Saving Sarah
by ChocolateIsKryptonite
Summary: Sarah Montague has done something terrible...and it has transformed her, but now she will have to deal with the consequences of who she was, even while she struggles to find out who she really is. *ON HIATUS FOR A LITTLE WHILE, SORRY*
1. Prologue

**AN: Hopefully i can write this story without new readers needing to read _Going Unnoticed_ first and hopefully people will be patient and keep in mind that things will be explained later on. :D**

**Also, this is NOT a Teddy/OC, cause i already did one of those haha ;)**

**Disclaimer:Obviously, i don't own Harry Potter stuff blah blah blah, you get it.**

**There will be like 24 chapters in this story. Anyway, please enjoy and review! :D**

**Prologue**

She should have expected it.

It had happened a thousand and one times before, so why did she not expect it?

Hope. That cruel, torturous emotion, it tricked her, didn't it?

She should have expected it.

But no, she hadn't and yes, it still hurt as much as it had the first time and every other time after that.

Today was supposed to be one of the best days, one she would remember forever, after all, a child's first journey to Hogwarts is a memorable one, isn't it?

For the wrong reasons, this one was.

She had wished for a reason to remember it, wanted a reason to hold tightly to the memory, the event, the moment.

She had gotten what she had wished for and, well, you know what they say about wishing.

The morning hadn't started well at all, her parents had nearly left without her.

How could they forget her?

It wasn't long before she realised they hadn't _forgotten_…they had hoped she would, after realising they had departed, attempt to make her own way across London and to Platform 9 and ¾'s.

Alone.

It had been pure luck that one of the house elves had happened upon her while she sat curled in a ball on the cold floor of one of the many hallways.

The elf had, after a tear stained plea from her, disapparated them and her luggage to the Platform.

When they were amongst the bustling crowd, the elf disappeared, leaving her to search franticly for the parents who had bruised her little heart again.

Perhaps this time, it had truly been an accident on their part?

There! Her parents were over by that pillar, saying goodbye to her brother who was about to embark on his final year of magical schooling.

Her little sister was even behaving for once, it was her that alerted their parents to her presence.

She should have expected it.

That look. The one her parents, especially her father, had only for her.

A mix of disappointment and disgust.

No regret that they had abandoned her?

No relief that their daughter had in fact, survived arriving to the station?

Of course not.

After giving her 'the look', they turned promptly back to her brother, warmly embraced him and stepped back.

She had been surprised when her arm had been roughly gripped by her father.

One of the things about this day she would never forget?

That expression in his brown eyes that were so like hers as he whispered fiercely,

"Don't you dare ruin your brother's last year."

Oh, the hate, it leapt from her father's very eyes and burrowed into her chest like a starved animal, sharp and quick, it struck her heart.

She must have nodded then because he let go and, with her mother, disapparated.

The hot tears had sprung up then, blinking had barely helped clear her vision.

The first thing she had noticed with her regained sight, was that her older brother was nowhere to be found.

As people pushed and shuffled about her, she couldn't have felt more alone.

That had soon changed however.

For a few precious moments she had been _seen_, properly _seen_ by people.

She had entered a compartment, awkwardly dragging her belongings behind her.

The compartment had fallen silent.

They had seen her.

A girl had even lifted her hand in greeting and…smiled.

At _her_.

It had been a most glorious moment, but one that had to end all too soon.

She had sat herself down and bathed in the positive attention for all of five minutes before it happened.

He had entered the compartment.

She should have expected it.

With his charming, easy going smile and vibrant blue hair, all eyes had fallen on him.

Blue hair? Who on earth had _blue_ hair?

She had decided then and there that she would do whatever she could do reclaim the attention she had lost and…

She had a feeling that this strange new boy would help her get it back.

Years later, that day, that _journey_ would indeed be remembered by her and she would countlessly wish it had been different.


	2. Chapter 1

**AN: For those lovely people who have read _Going Unnoticed_, you might be interested to know that this chapter starts about halfway into Chapter 14 and travels through 15 as well.**

**For those readers who haven't read _Going Unnoticed,_ it was a Teddy/OC set in his 6th year fic and this is a spin off for one of the characters.**

**Also a big thanks to everyone who has reviewed/followed/favouritized this fic :D**

Sarah Montague, a.k.a, Sarah the Slut, was utterly destroyed in that moment.

That handsome and lovely Teddy Lupin, with his bright blue hair and eyes, was hugging her.

For years it was an event she had been longing for and when the moment finally came…it was because he was comforting her.

Because she was crying.

Sobbing like there was no tomorrow was more like it.

Merlin, she was probably even getting pink mascara and who knows what else, all over his shirt.

And wasn't that just the most attractive thing in the world.

Not.

In truth, it was the kindness he showed her that brought about the salty waterfall from her brown eyes.

She didn't deserve it of course, he probably knew it too but, being the ridiculously wonderful person he is, he gave it to her anyway.

Besides, he didn't know what she had done to the girl he loved.

If Sarah had it her way, and she often got it, he would never know what had happened.

Was she still sobbing?

Ah, that would be a no. In fact, she was now at the 'supremely appealing' stage of her pity party.

It included loud, squishy sniffling sounds and noisy gasping.

Great. Yeah, that made her feel _so_ much better.

_I'd better disentangle myself from him before this gets even more embarrassing,_ Sarah thought bitterly.

_If that's even possible._

She took in a deep, supposedly strengthening, breath before letting go of his muscular torso and shuffling back a few steps.

She couldn't help but risk a glance at his azure eyes. She shouldn't have done it.

_Idiot._

His striking features were pinched slightly, by what could only be pity and sympathy.

Those damn tears tried to make a comeback.

_Flippin' idiot tears! Go away!_

"I really do need to get going," Teddy said; his tone one of regret, "I have detention."

She nodded her understanding, she remembered very vividly the reason he had gotten into trouble.

Apparently jumping up on tables when shirtless was frowned upon at Hogwarts, well, thanks to Teddy, the whole school now knew this.

Sarah knew that he'd had good reason for doing what he did, the teachers however…they wouldn't appreciate the 'why' of his 'distraction'.

Actually, as she watched Teddy turn and hurry down the corridor, Sarah realised that she didn't, in fact, know the exact 'why' either.

All she knew was that he had publicly embarrassed himself for Mackenzie Millark; she didn't know why the distraction had been necessary.

Mackenzie had gotten a letter, gone a frightening shade of OMG and then started crying silently.

That was when Teddy had partially stripped off and, in all the…excitement; Mackenzie had been able to disappear.

But what was that letter about?

It was very lucky that Sarah wasn't the type that got obsessed with things like that, as Mackenzie was not likely to ever spill the beans to her.

Not after what had happened…

Although, Mackenzie didn't remember the attack, did she?

Sarah started off down the corridor; she was going slowly, as one would when they were unsure of their balance.

Sarah and her two accomplices had subtly asked the girl what had happened.

She remembered nothing.

A wave of fresh relief washed over Sarah, she still couldn't believe they hadn't been caught.

Perhaps it was just a matter of time?

No, there was no evidence that it was her; otherwise they would have been caught by now, right?

And even if Mackenzie remembered, she would not say anything, Sarah was sure of that; the girl was a worthless Gryffindor.

_She's worth _everything.

Guilt and sadness replaced the relief as Sarah recalled the words Teddy had spoken.

The emotional vice squeezed the darkened organ hiding behind her rib cage.

With lead filled limbs, Sarah trudged over to a door nearby; she knew the girl's bathroom was behind the wooden obstacle.

Her arms struggled to push open the door, so she pressed her body against it to give strength to her efforts.

She stumbled through the doorway; her momentum carried her over to the nearest sink and she glared at her reflection.

Merlin, all that pink, it would be enough to make even Barbie puke.

Still, it was an attention grabbing colour, which is exactly why she had chosen it all those years ago.

Besides orange, Sarah had always thought pink to be the colour that stands out most. She had gone with pink because, honestly, even she couldn't rock the bright orange lipstick.

Scowling, Sarah angrily ripped out her various rosy hair accessories and tossed them to the side of the cold sink.

_Mackenzie never uses anything for her hair, she barely tries with her appearance at all and yet…Teddy would always choose her over me. _

She ignored the stab of pain in her chest and focused instead on adjusting her uniform so that it was appropriate, meaning, her skirt was tugged down, her tie tightened and her shirt buttons done up.

A small voice in the back of her mind gave its own opinion.

_Teddy would choose Mackenzie because she is a good person, beautiful in ways you will never be._

Sarah's head bowed as her self-directed anger dissipated in the face of the new arrival, depression. It clung to her bones and made her physical state reflect her emotional one, she was weakened.

Her manicured hands clutched the edge of the sink, her heart seemed to clench and breathing became near impossible.

_No, don't cry again!_

She tried to distract herself; she lifted her head and studied her features in the mirror.

Her hair was light brown and it fell in loose curls past her shoulders. Sarah couldn't help but compare it to Mackenzie's long and silky, dark brown tresses.

Mackenzie had pale green eyes, Sarah's were dark brown and surrounded by magenta tinted eye makeup.

The saddest thing? Even with all the 'enhancements' to her appearance, Sarah still had to fight for attention and she still would never be able to measure up to Mackenzie Millark in Teddy's eyes.

_You shouldn't judge yourself by the value others give you, but by the value you give yourself._

_Wise words, Teddy, wise words._

Sick of herself for the moment, Sarah pushed away from the sink and moved out into the corridor, uncaring of the fact she had left her hair accessories behind.

The journey to the Gryffindor common room took no time at all, but then again, she was not paying attention to where her feet were taking her, her thoughts consumed her.

She wanted to be worth everything to someone, so why couldn't she be?

Because she wasn't worth anything to herself.

Years of being ignored and hated for existing had really beaten the crap out of her self-esteem, hadn't it?

The Fat Lady asked for the password and Sarah gave her answer mechanically.

Why didn't she realise that going to the common room would be a bad idea?

She slouched into the normally welcoming room with her head down.

The laughter nearby was loud and painful, why were other people always so happy?

_Maybe because _they_ actually _have_ friends._

Loneliness choked her, eliciting a pair of tears from her eyes.

_Damn it! Pull yourself together! _She reprimanded herself desperately.

She abruptly became aware of the fact that there was someone standing before her.

Of course, she must be in their way-

"Sarah?" a voice asked quietly.

No!

Horrified, Sarah reflexively looked up.

"What's wrong? Do you want to talk about it?" Mackenzie inquired gently.

Why? After all of the horrible things she had done to this girl, why did she still have to be so nice?

_Beautiful in ways you will never be_, an inward voice reminded her.

Mackenzie was looking at her with such concern. The girl's kindness brought back that awful memory of the attack.

How could Sarah have even thought, let alone put into action, any harm against this girl, who was so innocent and guileless?

She should say something, shouldn't she?

Sarah, panicked and overwrought with guilt, opened her mouth to speak.

There was nothing she could say. Absolutely nothing.

Sarah's mouth snapped closed again.

Her wide eyes flickered around the room madly; she had to get out of there.

"Sarah?" Mackenzie kindly prompted.

A strangled groan sounded from Sarah.

Sympathy was the worst when you were upset.

It was more unendurable though, when it came from someone you had wronged.

Sarah had to escape; she spun around and raced out of the portrait hole and into the silent and unemotional corridor.

She kept running but could not escape the clouds of misery that were pouring their drowning dejection upon her.

She soon found herself back in that bathroom, though…was it really the same one?

Confusion pulled her features into a frown.

It looked the same; it was most definitely the right one but…what happened to her accessories?

They were gone.

Surprisingly, Sarah didn't care at all that her belongings had been taken.

She felt it odd that they had disappeared; she peered into the sink where they had been.

Yup, they were gone.

_Would anyone care if_ I_ went missing?_

She knew the answer, it kicked her in the heart and didn't apologise about it.

_No, nobody would care. Not Melinda, not Olivia and certainly not Teddy._

She let out a small gasp.

That hurt, knowing she was so worthless that no-one would care if she wasn't around.

Teddy's earlier words floated back into her mind.

_Make yourself someone of worth, make yourself someone _worth_ saving and when you do that, there will always be hope for you._

Teddy was such a good guy and, despite his lovely personality and visage, Sarah had never held any romantic feelings for him.

No, he was a means to an end, well, he was, once. Thing was, Sarah had figured that anyone around him would immediately be in the spotlight with him.

That was what she had craved.

Sarah realised then that she was staring in the mirror and…staring right through herself.

The realisation burned through her like fire.

She was stupid.

If she stayed as she was, people would _always_ look through her.

This, _image_ of herself that she had created, it was destroying her.

It needed to go, before she lost herself in it.

It was time to be herself, time to be Sarah Montague.

She scrubbed at her face until all the remnants of pink makeup were removed.

Her mirror image stared back at her.

_Who am I? _

Sarah the Slut was utterly destroyed in that moment.


	3. Chapter 2

**AN: I ****_so_**** nearly made a Miley Cyrus joke in this chapter, but i didn't want to offend people :P**

**Also, this chapter contains Spoilers for _Going Unnoticed_...just warning you, if you care :P**

**And this chapter is kinda big cause i wanted to get through a lot of stuff, you know, get through the rest of the _Going Unnoticed_ chapters...yeah :P**

**Thanks so much to those of you who have been reviewing! You're great :D**

She was a completely different girl now, well, she _looked_ like a completely different girl.

Armed with her new resolve to be a better person, Sarah marched out of the bathroom and into the small crowd of students milling through the hallway.

Perhaps _marched_ was too strong a word, it would be more accurate to say that she had _wanted_ to march out of the room but had instead nervously crept into the corridor.

She didn't know what she had been expecting, actually no, she had been expecting some sort of reaction from people, she could admit that much.

Call it vanity if you will, but when you do something different with your appearance, you _do_ think, if only briefly, that someone will notice and say something, right?

Mentally, Sarah kicked herself.

_No, this is _not_ how we're going to be, we are _not_ going to care about what other people think about us. Other people's opinions are _not_ how we will value ourselves._

Determination strengthened her stride, she had no idea where she was going, but it felt good to pretend she did.

Idly, Sarah realised how free and light she felt with her hair pulled back in a French braid, it was a new feeling for her, one she revelled in.

It lasted oh, about, a minute?

"Merlin! Is that you, Sarah?" someone screeched.

Her eyes closed, she prayed for strength and smoothed away the frown that had appeared on her face.

She spun slowly around to face her accomplices.

Melinda Cresswell and Olivia Peasegood approached in their typical hip-swaying, sauntering fashion.

A vague sense of disgust rose up; Sarah couldn't believe that she had walked as they did less than a day ago.

"It _is_ you," Melinda gushed.

_Unfortunately._

Their eyes raked over her and simultaneously, their lips quirked into identical sneers.

_Wow, you'd think they had been taught to do that or something._

Self-loathing flicked its hot breath down her neck as she realised, _oh yeah, _I_ was the one that taught them…_

Olivia pursed her lips and shook her head of pale blond ringlets.

Melinda clicked her tongue in disapproval, "I can't say I like the new look, Sarah."

"Yeah," agreed the other girl before she continued with disgust, "What _happened_ to you?"

_I don't look _that_ bad, do I?_

Sarah knew that these two girls were as dangerous as a pack of starved wolves. She also knew that they could sense fear and weakness.

She shouldn't have taught them so well.

Even as a flood of adrenaline flowed into her veins, Sarah was mentally preparing herself.

She had to be strong; it was imperative, otherwise these girls would walk all over her and leave her ruined.

_No weakness, no weakness, no weakness._

She imagined herself wearing protective armour, she was invincible.

Sarah stood taller and folded her arms across her chest.

"Oh, hey… _girls_," she greeted, saying the last word in the tone usually reserved for saying things like 'trash' and 'Dolores Umbridge.'

"What have you done to yourself?" Melinda sneered, unaware of Sarah's attitude, "You look hideous."

Inwardly, Sarah flinched, her armour chipping.

There was a thin line here; she needed to tread it carefully.

If she wasn't more cautious, the girls may just decide that keeping her involvement in Mackenzie's attack secret, was no longer worth saving their own necks.

They might choose to face punishment themselves, just to see Sarah receive the same fate.

In the months to come, she would wonder what would have happened if she had remembered and used the information she had had on the girls in that moment.

"Well, aren't you _lovely_ today?" Sarah said, "But I have somewhere to be, so good day, ladies."

_Thank Merlin, they never understood sarcasm…_

She turned away again and managed another few steps.

"What's going on with you?" demanded Olivia.

If anyone one else, besides Melinda that is, had said that, Sarah might've thought they had been concerned about her but, no, these girls just hated a change in the status quo.

Sarah, with one last burst of emotional strength, tossed a look at them over her shoulder.

"I'm a changed person," she announced with only half the confidence she actually felt, "I'm done with the lying, cheating, stealing and manipulation and I'm done with the both of you. _Good day._"

She managed to get three strides away before-

"You're done with us?" Melinda squawked indignantly, "You think you're better than us?"

Sarah froze, her armour rusting as she thought_, I'm better than no one_.

"Think you're too good for us now?" added Olivia in equal outrage.

Sarah forced her now-heavy legs to take another few steps.

"Have you forgotten who you are, Sarah? Forgotten what you've _done_?"

A piece of armour fell away, she would never, _could_ never, forget what she had done.

"How _is_ our dear friend, Mackenzie, these days?" Melinda asked deliberately.

Olivia joined in, "Hey, Mel, maybe we should talk to her, might be able to jog her memory, what do you think?"

Sarah could feel it, her internal strength was dissolving.

"N-no, don't s-say anything to her!" she stumbled desperately, turning back to them, her ability to speak dissolving with her strength apparently.

Melinda jeered, "You're pathetic, what _happened_ to you? What game are you playing?"

Sarah couldn't afford to lose it now, she had to regain herself or else…

"No game. Just…" she took a deep breath, "Just leave me alone, okay? I'm not who I once was and you should be happy about that, you now have free reign. Leave me be."

They were considering it, she could tell and that was when she backed away and disappeared as quickly and discreetly as she could.

* * *

She ran out of steam by the time she reached the next floor up.

For the first time in years, Sarah didn't notice when people were staring at her.

They watched her with quizzical expressions that said 'do we know her? She looks kinda familiar…'

Sarah, however, was too inwardly focused to see anything but the next few steps ahead.

_Those two…I need to keep away from them; I don't want to give them anymore opportunity to get to me. I know I have some advantage because I know them so well, but that won't stop them from picking at me until I fall apart._

Her distracting thoughts kept her looping around the floor for the next couple of hours.

It wasn't until she heard voices around the corner that she realised how long she had been walking for.

_Is…is that Mackenzie's voice?_

A jolt of awareness slid through Sarah, _right, Mackenzie's a prefect, she must be doing her rounds, but who's she talking to?_

She shouldn't be nosy, she really shouldn't.

Sarah snuck over to the wall, peered around the corner and sure enough, there was Mackenzie Millark, the girl of Teddy Lupin's dreams.

Speaking of Teddy…he was standing in front of Mackenzie, his back to Sarah.

"So, we're friends now?" he asked, seeming to want confirmation.

_Interesting…_

"Friends," Mackenzie agreed with a nod.

Teddy twitched in a 'I'm trying not to happy dance' sort of way.

_Oh, you spaz, I'm getting embarrassed just watching you._

With the idea that she was stalking people sitting uncomfortably on her shoulders, Sarah backed away and decided that she'd had enough of this floor for a good while.

_So, they weren't friends before now?_

Sarah frowned for a moment_, oh wait, that makes sense, Teddy _was_ always badgering and teasing Mackenzie, hardly friend material…_

She snorted a little and then quickly looked around, hoping no one had heard her derisive sound.

The hallway was clear however and allowed her to drop her 'I didn't do anything' face.

_Ah, so because Teddy helped Mackenzie by distracting everyone, they're going to be friends now? _

Loneliness flared inside Sarah again as an unbidden thought snuck into her mind.

_I wish I had friends..._

She knew that, now she had shown her hand with Melinda and Olivia, things were going to be a lot different.

And while it was undoubtedly better to have a real friend as opposed to a 'frenemy' or two, Sarah was going to miss having people to sit and hang out with.

Telling herself to get over it, she ascended to another floor and tried to keep her mind on other things.

_That's a nice painting, I really like the- oh, who _cares_? I need to make plans for how I'm going to survive._

She had never been very good at self-distraction…

_Well, I should try to go to bed after Melinda and Olivia, that way, they will have less time to harass me and there'll be less chance of me breaking down. I should probably be waking up earlier as well…_

* * *

She managed to stick to her plan and wait in a dark corner of the common room until all of her dorm mates had gone to bed, Mackenzie and Isabel included.

Breakfast the next day was an interesting affair to be sure.

Even though she was several seats down from her year group and sitting by first years, Sarah could clearly see the new development.

Teddy was sitting next to Mackenzie.

_How did I never notice how painfully adorable those two are?_

And it _was_ painfully adorable; they kept stealing glances at each other as if to see if the other was still there.

Teddy would watch her with rapt fascination and then look away just as she shyly peeked at him at blushed slightly.

Sarah had always had an unfair dislike for Mackenzie because of the way she had always held Teddy's attention, and it was worse because she _knew_ it was unfair for her to feel as she did.

As she watched the girl though, she felt that tight ball of dislike unravel and fall away into nothingness.

Sarah noticed with a heavy but unsurprised heart, that none of her peers looked around for her or asked about her.

Suddenly not at all hungry, she quickly left the Great Hall and retreated to the common room.

The solitude there was exactly what she needed and it lasted about half an hour.

When a group of people entered the room, Sarah sunk further into the couch and grabbed a copy of _Witch Weekly_ from the table in front of her.

She snapped the magazine open and held it up, trying valiantly to read it.

A flash of blue caught her attention from the corner of her eye. Unwillingly, she turned and saw exactly what she expected.

Teddy was with Mackenzie and her best friend Isabel. That strange Hufflepuff Layla Birch was with them as well.

_But where's Toby? Why isn't Teddy with his best friend?_

Sarah shook herself, it was none of her business.

More students returned from breakfast and, to her great horror, a few of them even sat near her.

_Don't talk to me, don't talk to me, don't talk to me._

She really didn't think she would be able to handle another round of 'what _happened_ to you?'

It might've been paranoia, but she was certain that someone was staring at her.

Should she look? Just to make sure?

No.

Sarah tuned into one of the conversations happening around her and told herself to forget about the possibility that there was someone watching her.

"One! Two! Three!" shouted the Hufflepuff girl.

_Why is she even allowed in here?_

Sarah wanted to know what Teddy and Mackenzie's friends were doing but again, she told herself it was none of her business.

Even with all the chatter in the room, she could pick out the sounds of quills scratching on parchment…

_What _are_ they doing?_

She forced herself to put down the magazine and stand up; she refused to let herself look over at a certain group sitting at a table in the corner.

Sarah made her way slowly out of the common room and into the corridor, strengthening her resolve to keep away from people and lay low.

She desperately wanted to have friends and to belong, but…she didn't deserve it and… honestly, who would want her around?

* * *

She bothered no one and no one bothered her.

Was it sad that in the five days that followed her encounter with Melinda and Olivia, Sarah conversed only with herself? That nobody talked to her at all?

No, not sad, it was downright tragic.

Even the professors ignored her; she found it odd that they hadn't tried to talk to her at all, seeing as how her behaviour had changed so rapidly.

_They have more important things to worry about; their worlds don't revolve around me, _she berated herself as she sat down to breakfast on Friday morning.

She then supposed that she _could_ initiate conversations with people if she really wanted to but then she realised that she didn't want to inflict her company upon anyone else anyway.

As she did every morning, Sarah looked over at Mackenzie and Teddy.

She felt a tad protective of the two, Mackenzie because of the attack and Teddy because he had helped her realise how wrong a path she had been on.

_Oh, Teddy and Toby are friends again are they?_

It was definitely heart-warming to see the two together again.

_Mackenzie's quite the social butterfly now, isn't she? When did that happen?_

The girl was with Isabel, Layla, Teddy and Toby.

That Ravenclaw prefect, Tony Hilliard, who asked out Mackenzie at the start of the term, was sitting with them as well.

_I'm glad she didn't say yes to him, they're not a very good match, not that I actually know them well enough to say…_

* * *

Sarah was extremely busy later that day, she was walking through a corridor on the fourth floor and…

_Nineteen paintings, twenty paintings, twenty one paintings, twenty –_

A flood of students came around the corner, one of them bumped into her, causing her to lose count as she tried not to swear at them.

She moved further along the corridor and glanced back over her shoulder, thinking maybe seeing one of the paintings would remind her where she was up to.

Someone leaning against the wall caught her attention; his dark blue hair was like a beacon.

Her heart clenched painfully at the sight of his miserable and angry expression.

_What's wrong with him?_

A pair of tall Slytherins slowly cut into her field of vision, once they had passed, she saw that Teddy was no longer by the wall.

Somewhat frantically, Sarah spun around, casting her gaze about in search.

There! He was being towed along by some girl she didn't recognise.

A cloak of dread fell on her.

_This can't be good…_

Several minutes later, another familiar face appeared, this time, it was Mackenzie.

She was standing at the corner, frowning deep in thought.

_Go on; ask her if she's okay, _Sarah encouraged herself.

Shaking slightly and filled with nerves, Sarah stumbled over to the other girl and inquired quietly.

"Mackenzie? Are you alright?"

The dark haired girl turned blankly to face her, she stared for a second before asking incredulously,

"Sarah?"

The expression on Mackenzie's face would have been comical if it wasn't so sad.

_Oh, why did I open my big mouth? I'm never talking to people again…_

To answer the question put to her, she nodded uncomfortably.

"Wow," Mackenzie said, still in that surprised tone, "I nearly didn't recognise you."

An expression that said 'I just stated the obvious, didn't I?' crossed her face, it was a bit of a wince actually and Sarah almost felt sorry for her.

Mackenzie's green eyes swept over her and Sarah felt completely awkward and vulnerable at the inspection, even though it was not as Melinda and Olivia's scrutiny had been.

The girl seemed to shake herself after a moment then and cleared her throat.

"Uh, Sarah," she said, "have you seen Teddy? I think he's upset about something and I want to make sure that he's alright."

_Oh, I hope nothing's wrong with them and I hope Teddy hasn't done anything stupid._

"I did see him," Sarah answered, "and he _did_ look upset."

"Did you see which way he went?" Mackenzie asked urgently.

Raising her arm, Sarah pointed to the corridor on the left and gestured that Teddy had gone around the corner.

_Should I warn her about the girl?_

Mackenzie was gone in the next second, dashing off after Teddy and not giving Sarah a chance to share what she knew.

"Thanks, Sarah!" the girl called out.

Those two simple words glued her to the stone floor as shock coated her veins with its icy embrace.

It had been far, _far_ too long since those words had been directed at her without the shackles of sarcasm and mockery.

Warmth washed over her, allowing her to move along once more, she was practically bouncing along the hallway.

_Yes! I could get used to this…_

As always however, Sarah's happiness was short lived.

_What about Teddy and Mackenzie? Something was definitely not right there._

* * *

Dinner that night explained a lot.

Mackenzie and Teddy were separated by their friends, a deliberate move by Mackenzie it looked like.

Well, nothing was really _explained_ exactly, but Sarah could guess.

_It's none of my business,_ _it's none of my business,_ _it's none of my business._

She looked down then and forced her hands to release the death grip they had on her cutlery, she had no right to be annoyed on Teddy's behalf.

Throughout the remainder of the meal, Sarah imagined what she would do if she let herself sink back temporarily into her old ways…just enough to get Teddy and Mackenzie together.

_No! If it's meant to be, then it'll happen._

Instinctively, Sarah looked up and over at Teddy.

He had an expression of complete concentration on his face, but it wasn't the good kind, it was the intense, self-hatred kind that screamed the fact that he was beating himself up about something.

She needed to get away from him, if she saw anymore of him she would be far too tempted to help his situation.

Sarah stood up slowly as to not catch anyone's attention, almost laughing at how her attitude had changed in the past week.

_Well, it's best to get attention for doing something good, rather than being horrible or embarrassing._

The long walk to the common room was a quiet one and she was not glad for it, it allowed her to mull in her worry for the people she cared for.

_Nope! Not going to think about them! One painting, two paintings, three paintings-_

* * *

Something was digging painfully into her ribs; her back ached as well, as did her neck.

That's what she got for falling asleep slumped over a table.

Someone was calling to her?

Her sluggish brain wasn't quite ready to come back online.

Someone was shaking her.

A moan rumbled up out of her mouth as she slowly eased herself up from the table top.

"What ya doing sleeping out here?" a familiar voice asked kindly.

_Oh, you're _kidding_ me, why is she everywhere all the time?_

Sarah rubbed her sleepy eyes to delay looking up at the concerned faces of Mackenzie and Isabel.

Damn, she could feel her cheeks turning pink.

"Um," she mumbled "I didn't want to go up until Melinda and Olivia were asleep."

_Ugh, I shouldn't have said anything, now-_

"Why's that?" asked Mackenzie.

_-they'll want to know why._

"Oh…-" she started.

_Cause they'll probably try to destroy me_

"Never mind," she finished hurriedly as she jumped out of her seat and packed away her books and quills.

Sarah then awkwardly and quickly eased herself around the two other girls and ran up into the dormitory.

Thankfully, Melinda and Olivia were already snoring soundly then and Sarah was able to swiftly get ready for bed.

* * *

Something interesting happened at breakfast the next morning.

_Breakfast has all the drama for some reason._

Well, it wasn't _drama_ exactly but it did help Sarah understand a bit more of what was going on.

_Teddy is grumpy, Tony Hilliard is happy and looking at Mackenzie…ah, okay, so maybe, Hilliard asked her out and she said yes? _

The Ravenclaw headed over to the Gryffindor table and greeted Mackenzie.

_Their date is for today?_

Once Mackenzie and the Ravenclaw left the Hall together, Sarah noticed Teddy's attempt at keeping himself occupied.

She watched as he forced a grin and started a conversation with his best friend.

_Stupid Mackenzie, why did she have to go and say yes to Hilliard for?_

Again, Sarah decided she needed to remove herself from Teddy, lest she let herself find a way to ruin Mackenzie's date on his behalf.

_I'm going to be a good girl now, no manipulation or anything._

* * *

Hours later, Sarah sighed in annoyance and closed another book.

She, despite her anger at the story, placed it carefully on a large stack of its fellows.

She had gotten the pile of novels from the Muggle section in the library on her way to the common room.

They varied in length, skewed to the smaller side though, because Sarah had never been much of a reader.

She had enjoyed most of them, even though she disliked some of the writing styles and characters…and the plots.

This last one though, was utterly ridiculous; she didn't even know how she made herself read the whole thing.

Sarah stared disdainfully at the cover.

_A silly cover for a silly book, vampires in a high school… ugh. And they weren't even _real_ vampires…well, you know what I mean, sparkling is _hardly_ what I'd call a terrifying supernatural ability._

She jumped to her feet and scooped up the books, trying not to start a lecture to herself about the awful characters, although it _would_ keep her busy for the journey back to the library…

Sarah was about to exit through the portrait hole when it swung open and sent her stumbling backwards, her books tumbling to the floor beside her.

A vicious glare settled on her face, she was prepared to lash out at the person but quickly tried to squelch her anger and school her features.

_It's not _their_ fault,_ she tried to console herself, _don't be Mean Sarah anymore._

"Merlin! I'm so sorry!" a male voice said quickly.

He held out his hand and, for a second, Sarah wanted to slap it away.

_Be nice, be nice, be nice._

She put the books that had fallen on her lap on the floor and grasped the hand offered.

Sarah was pulled easily up and, once on her feet, she realised who her helper was.

David Warrickson, one of the sixth year boys in Teddy's dorm.

"Oh, it's you, Sarah," he said, tilting his head slightly and examining her with his hazel eyes, "Are you alright?"

"Um, hello, David," she responded, inwardly cringing at her awkwardness, "Yes, I'm fine."

_Could this get any worse?_

She had never had much occasion for talking with him over the years, despite them being in the same house and year group.

David glanced down, causing Sarah's eyes to follow…

And see that she was still holding his hand.

_Merlin, it got _worse_._

She dropped his hand like it burned her and hated herself as her skin tried to turn her into a flamingo.

Thankfully, David was kind enough to pretend that nothing had happened.

He stooped down and picked up her books.

"Reading, are you?" he asked conversationally.

She nodded and tried to keep a 'yes, that's what you do with books' expression away from her face.

David frowned at the vampire book and straightened up.

"You've read this?" he questioned, his tone not judging, just curious.

An involuntary shudder ran through Sarah, "Yes and it was _awful_."

He stood up and handed her the books, "Can I tell you something?"

Her eyes widened, why would he want to tell _her_ anything?

"O-okay," she mumbled nervously.

It was just so weird that someone would want to talk to her and that they _were_ talking to her.

David leaned down a bit and glanced around, as if he were about to give away some great secret and didn't want anyone else to overhear.

Intrigued, Sarah also leaned forward, angling her head so that she wouldn't miss anything he said.

"I've read all those books," he whispered.

She gasped and stepped back, "There's more of them?" she asked, horrified.

David nodded sagely, "Movies too."

"No!" Sarah breathed.

"Yup, I'm surprised you don't know about it, where've you been?"

Her parents disapproving faces flashed to the forefront of her mind.

"Oh, well…" she started, "my family never really appreciated Muggle books and movies…we never really had them in the house."

The boy's shrewd eyes saw too much in that instant, leading Sarah to promise to keep away from him.

"Th-" David was cut off by an annoyed voice from somewhere behind him.

"Are you two going to stand there all night?" the seventh year demanded.

Evidently, he had entered through the portrait hole and had been impatiently waiting for David and Sarah to move.

"I don't know where you think you're going anyway," the seventh year continued irritably, "it'll be after hours soon."

Sarah moved to let the Fun Police get through and looked to her watch.

"Oh, is that the time? I've been reading all day," she was surprised.

She and David turned into the common room and stood awkwardly behind the couch.

"Never picked you to be a reader," he stated interestedly.

Aware that this was probably the longest conversation she had had in a long time, Sarah grew nervous.

"Um, yeah, I don't usually read…"

David raised an eyebrow and said slowly, "So… what's got you reading then?"

"I've got no friends, no life and nothing to do."

She had meant to say it jokingly but it instead came out as more of a desperate moan.

She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment to block out whatever expression he may have had in response.

"Ah, anyway," she rushed, "I have to go, bye, David."

Sarah dashed up the girls' dormitory stairs and didn't look back.

* * *

Wanting to avoid David the next morning, Sarah skipped breakfast.

She did, however, overhear Melinda and Olivia gushing about…Teddy's clothes shrinking?

_He does stupid things, but he's not stupid. I wonder if he's trying to impress Mackenzie, get her to see he's better than that Ravenclaw…_

She had heard something on that front as well, apparently Mackenzie and Hilliard's date didn't last very long at all, because she had gone running off to go and talk to someone else.

Now, Sarah didn't like Tony Hilliard all that much, because he was in the way of Teddy and Mackenzie, but still, she couldn't help but feel a little bad for him.

Rather bad form on Mackenzie's part, running away like that.

_Maybe there was something really important that she needed to do?_

What could be that important?

Sarah hoped Mackenzie had realised she was on a date with the wrong person and then run off to declare her undying love for Teddy.

_A girl can dream…_

* * *

_Something definitely happened with them_, she decided a week later.

_Mackenzie has _so_ been avoiding Teddy! Argh…not my business though, is it?_

Sarah stomped for a few steps along a corridor on the sixth floor, venting her self-directed frustration.

_I'm not friends with them, so I should just leave them alone._

"-you haven't talked to me in ages and we haven't hung out all year!"

_Whoa, who's doing all the shouting?_

Sarah kept walking and tried to be casual she as she slowed down when she passed a very angry blonde girl standing in front of, you guessed it, Teddy Lupin.

_Oh, that's that Weasley girl, Victoria? Victory? Oh, Victoire, that's right._

"Not to mention," the girl spat angrily, "that, for some _stupid_ reason, I'm still getting letters from my family about that _stupid_ kiss on the train!"

_Kiss on the train? Oh, right, _that_ one..._

"Really?" Teddy asked incredulously.

"Yes, and they aren't listening to me when I tell them that there's nothing between me and you. I even tried to tell them about Mackenzie-"

Teddy interrupted, "You what?"

"Well, I had to tell them _something_," the blonde said, "at least it was the truth."

Sarah was nearly at the next corner and amazed they hadn't seen her yet. She really should stop making a habit of spying on people.

"I haven't gotten any letters from anyone about it," said Teddy confusedly.

Sarah winced; the boy was not helping his situation.

She disappeared around the corner just as Victoire bellowed in wordless outrage.

_I don't think I want to be around when Teddy gets murdered…_

* * *

For the next few days, all anyone seemed to talk about was Professor Slughorn's little party.

Sarah folded her arms and pushed herself further into her chair in the library, so annoyed with the 'Slug Club' that she could no longer focus on her Charms homework.

_It's a stupid idea, I mean, why did he think it would be a good idea to single people out like that? Didn't he wonder how it would affect those people who were not invited?_

Yes, she was a little bit bitter that she hadn't gotten an invitation scroll when everyone else did a few days ago.

Sarah tried again to read her textbook, only to growl in annoyance as she realised that the book she had was about Herbology and not Charms.

_So distracted, you can't even get the right book…idiot. How did I even end up with this one?_

She stood up, flinching at the scraping sound of her chair moving against the stone floor.

Moving over to the right shelves, Sarah eyed the numerous spines of the thick volumes.

_Where did I get this-? Oh, _really_? Maybe they're stalking me…_

At a table behind the shelves she was examining, Mackenzie and Layla sat talking.

"-I meant, are you going to ask out Teddy?" the Hufflepuff girl was inquiring.

Sarah's eyebrows shot up, _Yeah Mackenzie, are you?_

"No," girl answered slowly, "why would I do that?"

Sarah couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes and decided that she liked Layla Birch, as the girl did the exact same thing.

"Because you like him, _obviously_. And also, I'm pretty sure he likes you too."

_Come on Mackenzie, I thought you were smart._

Sarah jumped as someone standing behind her cleared their throat.

She spun around, her hand covering her rapidly beating heart.

"Oh, hey, David," she greeted shakily.

She quickly looked down at her hands, just to make sure that they weren't attached to David's this time.

He aimed a puzzled look at her, "What're you doing?"

"I'm not spying on anyone if that's what you're wondering," she said defensively.

David brought his palm up and covered his face, shaking his head slowly.

Without another word, he wandered off, a small amused smile on his face.

Sarah slapped her own hand to her face and wished she wasn't an embarrassing idiot.


	4. Chapter 3

**AN: This is a short chapter, sorry. :P**

**Recap: Sarah is embarrassing and we are all glad we aren't her. :D**

_Merlin, he must think I'm so _stupid_…_

An excited voice cut through her 'Sarah bashing' moment.

"Toby just came up to me before when I was in the common room; he asked me to Slughorn's party and told me that he really, _really_ likes me!"

_When'd Isabel get here? Wait, she and Toby are a thing?_

"But, Izzy, didn't you say that the party was cancelled?" Mackenzie asked.

_Slughorn's party is cancelled? _

_Don't be happy about that, don't be happy…_

"Explain, please, Isabel," requested Layla.

Sarah didn't need to see Isabel to know that the girl was beaming brightly with barely contained happiness.

"Well, I went to the common room to get my book," Isabel started, "on the way, Toby asked me out and I floated on a cloud of joy all the way up to the dorm…um, anyway, then I came back and Teddy and Toby told me about Slughorn's party and about how there is a different party going to happen now."

Mackenzie sounded as confused as Sarah felt, "Different party?" she questioned.

"Yup," confirmed Isabel, "Gryffindor Tower is having a party."

Sarah felt the clashing of emotions then, she was happy that there was going to be a party that she would actually be allowed to go to, but then, she probably wouldn't go to it anyway.

The idea of being around all those people was enough to make her feel dizzy.

Her eyes happened to land on a book on the shelf opposite her.

_Oh, there're the Charms books!_

* * *

She didn't really like parties all that much; they reminded her of the ones her parents used to have.

Not that she would know much about _those_ parties, seeing as her parents always sent her away to her grumpy Uncle for the duration of the festivities.

She would only know there had been a party when she returned and her younger sister babbled on about the cute boys that had been present, not that Chelsea would actually talk to _her_ about them, more like, talk to her friends pompously while knowing Sarah was in earshot.

It hadn't taken her long to associate visiting her Uncle with being rejected.

_Oh, stop your whining, Sarah._

She was in her dorm room, hiding from the party and trying to convince herself that she wasn't thirsty for a butterbeer and that she didn't need to go down the stairs.

Against her better judgment, she found herself pulling open the door and stepping lightly, going slower and nervously as she entered the crowds of the common room.

She located the snack table and, keeping her head down and being as inconspicuous as possible, made her way over to it.

_Oh, just my luck…_

The wooden table was littered with empty bottles and rubbish, but no butterbeer for Sarah.

She sighed and was about to sneak back up to her sanctuary when she saw Teddy sitting alone in one of the armchairs by the fireplace.

For some unknown reason, Sarah was compelled to go to him.

Perhaps it was because he was all by himself in this crowd; she knew what that was like.

_Quick, start a conversation with him, talk about something he's interested in._

She frowned; this was probably not a good idea.

_What _is_ he interested in? What's he looking a- Oh, Mackenzie! Talk about Mackenzie, he's looking at her!_

"She's pretty great, isn't she?" surprisingly, her words came out quiet and, for a second, she though he hadn't heard her.

Teddy jumped and glanced over his shoulder.

Sarah moved over to stand in front of the fireplace so that Teddy wouldn't have to crane his neck.

He looked dumbstruck for a second, probably wondering why she was talking to him.

_Yeah, well, he can join the club._

"She is," he said slowly, "How are you, Sarah?"

_Feeling like I'm about to throw up…_

It was the first time they had talked since she had cried all over him.

_And doesn't that just amp up the pressure._

To cover her emotions, Sarah gave a weak smile and simply said, "I'm fine."

His expression clearly said that he didn't believe her.

"You know," he said, "If you ever want to talk, I'll listen."

Her eyes widened as surprise took over, why would he be so nice to her?

A frown tugged her features down, _how can I ever be as nice as him and Mackenzie?_

Concentrating so much on the differences between her and those two, Sarah only just managed to give Teddy a little wave before she drifted off to a spare chair that rested at the edge of the room, needing some serious thinking time.

She almost missed it when Tony Hilliard gathered up the courage to ask out Layla Birch.

_What! Since when did they-ugh! _

Sarah didn't like not having all of the information; so instead, she invented her own ideas about how that couple came to be.

She was getting caught up in her own story at that point, even imagining some of the conversations between the people.

Suddenly, she realised the room had gone silent.

Startled, Sarah looked around…

And saw that Mackenzie was standing on the table in front of Teddy.

Excitement pounded at her heart, _is she going to do what I think she's going to do?_

Mackenzie was focused on Teddy, who Sarah could only see the back of from her angle.

"Teddy Lupin," the dark haired girl addressed in a calm, clear voice.

_Wow, check her out being all brave and stuff._

Sarah was oddly proud in that moment.

_And to think, if that attack had gone on for a few more spells…Mackenzie wouldn't be here and Teddy would've been ruined._

She wheezed, abruptly feeling like a giant hand was squeezing her ribcage.

_Oh, Merlin…w-we could've killed her!_

"Will you go out with me?" Mackenzie asked.

_Calm down, don't panic, It's fine, Mackenzie is fine._

She tried to focus on the scene before her.

Teddy stood up slowly and then jumped up onto the table with Mackenzie, no doubt grinning ecstatically.

The crowd of students were all paying close attention as well, waiting almost impatiently for the blue haired boy's answer.

"Teddy?" prompted Mackenzie.

Finally, he responded, "Mackenzie, I would love to go out with you."

The girl's expression was almost enough to shake Sarah out of her shame and guilt spiral…almost.

Mackenzie seemed a bit shocked and, well, dazed.

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" the room of people chanted.

Wide green eyes danced about crowd, Mackenzie was looking for confirmation or confidence from those around her.

When those eyes landed on her, Sarah smiled at the girl as best she could.

She had finally gotten what she had wanted, right? The couple she wanted was together, so what was this feeling?

Sarah actually looked down, expecting to see a knife's handle or something sticking out of her chest.

She couldn't stand the environment any longer.

Quickly, she forced her way through the ocean of bodies and towards the freedom of the portrait hole.

She made it into the corridor just as the crowd cheered jubilantly.

The Fat Lady swung her portrait closed again, cutting off the sound.

Sarah couldn't understand her emotions, so as she dragged herself around the seventh floor, she tried sifting through them.

She felt happy, very happy for Teddy and Mackenzie and she was glad they had finally gotten their acts together.

She felt a choking, sinking feeling of guilt and regret for attacking the girl just because Teddy had been sending her gifts.

She felt…she felt lonely. Would she ever have what Teddy and Mackenzie have?

Would she ever deserve that kind of happiness?

_No friends, no love life and basically no family…I'm like…ugh, I can't even think of a witty comparison, this day _sucks_._

"Oh, _hello_ there," came a decidedly creepy voice.

Sarah paused her glaring at the ground session and looked up at who had spoken.

There were three boys leaning against the opposite wall. She didn't recognise them and guessed them to be in fifth year.

Two of them were of Ravenclaw house and one of them was of Slytherin.

The tallest Ravenclaw, the one she supposed had spoken, sauntered forward, staring at her with an unsettling and predatory hint in his dark eyes.

"Uh, hi," Sarah mumbled, feeling extremely awkward as the trio came closer.

"I know who you are," the leader said smugly, "You're Sarah Montague, the Slut."

She flinched and avoided his gaze, "Not anymore."

"Pity," he sneered, taking another step forward.

She did not like this at all; they were _far_ too close to her, her personal space was nearly non-existent.

Her heart was pounding loudly and unevenly like an inexperienced drummer.

She was clearly outnumbered and they were all taller and bigger than her.

"You're a Gryffindor," he said as she stumbled back against the cold wall, "I heard they were having a party, so why aren't you there?"

She mentally told herself to stop shaking and to pull herself together, but thoughts of how this situation could go kept her unsteady and off balance.

He hadn't seemed to have required an answer from her, he continued talking.

"You don't want to party with them?"

He raised an arm and tucked some wayward strands of her hair back from her face, acting all concerned for her.

He betrayed his performance by then smirking.

"Well," he said to his friends over his shoulder, "She can party with us, can't she, boys?"

Twin evil smiles crept onto their faces as their eyes burned into her.

Her breath was sawing in and out raggedly.

"No, leave me alone," she protested weakly, "I h-have to g-go somewhere!"

A dark laugh and then a suggestive response, "You can come _somewhere_ with us."

"No!" Sarah struggled, pushing at the nearest boy, trying to get away.

She didn't get very far before they grabbed her and hauled her backwards.


	5. Chapter 4

**AN: Thank you so much for the reviews! Also there is a, in my opinion, disgustingly cute Tekenzie scene in this chapter...enjoy :D**

**Some of you might be interested to know that my other fanfic, ****_If This Was A Fan Fiction_****, will be coming off hiatus soonish so yay, it will be updated on Wednesdays :D Please go and read whats there ;) **

**Also, from now on, this story will be updated on Saturday nights :D**

**Recap: Dramatic cliffhanger happened and oh no!**

Hands gripped her arms with bruising force, keeping her back against the rough stone wall and stopping her from reaching for her wand.

Panic energised her, she thrashed about, twisting and squirming, trying to break free.

"Help!" she screamed desperately.

"Silencio," said the tall Ravenclaw, an evil glint in his eyes, "No one can hear you now."

Total and complete fear settled in, freezing her blood and stilling her wild motions.

_This is just what I deserve, isn't it?_

Tears welled up in her brown eyes and ran down her fair cheeks.

Suddenly, the leader was flung back. He went flying down the corridor and landed in a heap.

_I didn't do that, did I?_

The two boys holding her shared worried glances before letting her go.

The one on the floor jumped up and looked madly about.

His features quickly reflected his nervousness as he focused on someone at the other end of the corridor.

Sarah turned, along with the Slytherin and other Ravenclaw, and saw a tall, broad shouldered and impressive looking seventh year standing there.

The seventh year strode confidently, his wand drawn and pointed threateningly at the other boys.

"Get out of here," he ordered them in a low voice.

Sarah almost couldn't believe that they listened to this newcomer, they had been so terrifying to her and yet, they turned tail and ran.

She felt caution force another flood of adrenaline into her system, was this new person another threat or not?

He put away his wand and raised his hands out in front of him, as if to show he wasn't going to hurt her.

Her strength deserted her then and she had no choice but to sink down to the floor.

He fell into a crouch, bringing their faces level.

Sarah blinked and then rubbed away her tears so she could see her rescuer properly.

He was good looking and had short black hair and dark blue eyes.

"I'm Cooper Mard," he said quietly, "Are you alright?"

Sarah tried to speak but couldn't, she gestured feebly to her throat.

"Oh, a Silencing Charm?" he questioned, his head tilting slightly.

She nodded dully and couldn't help but flinch when he pulled out his wand and performed the counter charm, restoring her ability to talk.

"What's your name?" he asked her kindly.

She coughed faintly before answering, "S-Sarah Montague."

Cooper straightened up and offered her a hand.

She subtly wiped her slightly sweaty hand on her robe before taking the help he presented.

"You won't have to worry about those boys again, Sarah," he reassured, "Two of them are in my house, Ravenclaw. I'll keep them in line; they've always been trouble makers."

Thinking back to the way she had been restrained by them, she shuddered violently.

Cooper's blue eyes were sympathetic as they took in her trembling, pale form.

"You need some cheering up," he said with a forced smile, "Why don't I escort you to the kitchens for some hot chocolate?"

"W-why are you b-being s-so nice to me?" she frowned, not just in confusion but because she was stumbling over her words.

Cooper gave her a charming grin and shrugged, "What can I say? I can't resist helping a damsel in distress."

Sarah gave him a small smile in return, "Th-Thank you for saving me, Cooper."

He winked, "Anytime, Sarah. Anytime."

* * *

As they ventured closer to the kitchens, Sarah found herself calming down significantly.

As long as she didn't think about what happened, she didn't get a flood of cold fear. She decided to pretend the whole horrible ordeal hadn't happened.

Afraid of getting caught up in her memories again, she looked over to the guy walking causally beside her.

Even though there was a voice in the back of her mind screaming 'You don't deserve this kindness!', Sarah revelled in the comforting presence of Cooper Mard.

He was, at that moment, educating her about the history of one the wizards that had been in a painting they had passed.

As enthusiastic as he was in his teaching, Sarah noticed he didn't use big hand gestures, she wondered if that could tell her anything about his personality.

Suddenly, those dark blue eyes of his were staring at her.

He laughed awkwardly for a second, "I should probably stop babbling on, _you_ probably don't want to hear any of this."

Sarah's brow twitched_, what was that supposed to mean? He thinks I don't want to know because I'm not a smart Ravenclaw or something?_

Cooper seemed to see his mistake, his eyes widened, "Oh! I meant…oh, look we're here!"

He pointed to the painting of the fruit bowl and moved over to it.

Sarah decided to let go of her thoughts about his strange behaviour, thinking she would give her saviour a little slack.

_Also, he's a Ravenclaw and they're always a bit weird._

Cooper reached out, tickled the pear and within the next minute, he and Sarah were in the Hogwarts kitchens.

She had, like everyone else for some reason, known about them of course, but she had never actually visited it before.

They had walked no more than a step inside before a swarm of cheerful house elves surrounded them.

It was all a bit overwhelming.

Sarah felt a rush of relief wash over her when Cooper took control and dismissed the elves after politely requesting two mugs of hot chocolate.

He led her over to the table that, in the Great Hall above, would be where the Ravenclaw table was positioned.

She felt surprisingly not awkward as she sat down across from him.

He smiled at her, "My friend Ryan told me this stupid joke the other day, want to hear it?"

"It's not a Knock Knock joke about You-Know-Who is it?" she asked suspiciously.

Cooper laughed, "Oh, you've heard it already!"

Sarah pulled a face, "I'm…Sorry?"

He waved it away, "No matter, he told me a couple of other ones too."

Sarah narrowed her eyes and leaned forward, "Okay, go on, I'm listening."

He winced, "Alright, what do you call a Hufflepuff with one brain cell?"

Sarah grinned, intrigued, "I have no idea."

"Gifted," Cooper finished with a little smile, looking at her from under his dark lashes.

She face palmed, "Oh, that's awful," she laughed.

He beamed at her, pleased that he had made her happy.

"Any more?" she asked with a smile.

Cooper bit his lip in thought, "Well," he drew out the word, "None that you would want to hear, they're a bit rude."

Sarah sighed, slightly disappointed, "Well if you ever hear any _good_ jokes…"

He winked at her, "You'll be the first I tell."

Warmth enveloped her and further pushed away the chill of the Corridor Incident.

With this feeling of being special making her heart swell in happiness, she couldn't help but grin at the boy across from her.

An odd look flickered in his eyes before he said somewhat seriously, "You're very beautiful, Sarah. You have a lovely smile."

It stung a little to hear compliments, they just made her feel worse about herself because she knew whatever outer beauty people _might_ see in her, was not reflected on the inside.

"Oh, shush," she said lightly, to cover her twinge of inner pain, "Don't lie to me."

He gasped dramatically, "I would never lie! Especially not to a fair maiden such as yourself!"

Sarah felt laughter bubbling up at his theatrics and she didn't stop it from emerging.

"I bet you say that to all the girls," she teased.

That voice in the back of her mind tried to admonish her for being happy but she ignored it ruthlessly.

Cooper rubbed his neck sheepishly.

"You do!" Sarah exclaimed before bursting into giggles, "Does that even work for you?"

He pulled a face; "Well…" he trailed off.

"Don't worry," she assured him as a house elf place steaming mugs in on the table, "Your secret is safe with me."

"You'll make a good friend then," he beamed.

_Friend?_

Her heart pumped harder, in fear and excitement.

He hesitated, "You _do_ want to be friends, right?"

"Yes," she agreed shyly.

"So," Cooper started, "If we're going to be friends, I should probably know more about you, tell me about yourself."

Sarah stared at her drink and traced the rim of the cup absently.

_Why do I have to be the most boring person in the world?_

"Uh, well," she began, "there's not much to tell. I'm a sixth year Gryffindor, I…uh, yeah that's about it."

She had almost mentioned the fact that she has no other friends and no skills but luckily she had stopped herself.

Cooper frowned, "I'm sure there's more to you than that, Sarah. What're your hobbies?"

Her forehead creased in thought, "I…don't think I have any to be honest."

"Really?" he asked interestedly, "So what do you do all day?"

_I don't like this at all…_

"Nothing," she said quickly, "what do _you_ do all day?"

Yeah, she sounded a bit defensive but that's what she was and she couldn't help it.

He raised a dark eyebrow, "Me? Oh, you know, I…read and stuff."

Sarah took a sip of her hot chocolate, sighed happily and then asked, "What do you read? Do you like Muggle books?"

"Muggle books?" he questioned with slight disapproval, "I can't say I've read any, have you?"

_Crap_.

"No, no I haven't, I was just…wondering."

_Wow, Sarah, save some of that awesome lying for later, jeez. Oh wait… we're not supposed to lie anymore._

_Crap._

She winced, "Actually, I _have_ read some Muggle books, I read a few the other week."

His expression was speculative as he watched her.

He surprised her by not commenting on her lie, "Were they any good?"

That awful vampire book sprung to mind and made her want to say 'no' but instead she thought a bit more of the other books.

"Well," Sarah said slowly, "I think, there are some writers and stories, both magical and Muggle, that are great and there are others that…should never see the light of day."

Cooper gave a little laugh before asking her, "So, what are your classes this year? Divination?"

Sarah brightened a little, "Yes, Divination and Arithmancy."

His eyebrows shot up, "Arithmancy? Really?"

She feigned outrage, "What, you think I couldn't do it?"

He chuckled and put his hands up, showing his surrender, "I think you could do whatever you want to do."

Feeling a bit uneasy with his assurance and realising her drink was getting cold, Sarah picked up her mug and took a big gulp.

Just as she was about to swallow, she glanced over at Cooper and noticed the silly face he was pulling at her.

She slapped a hand over her mouth.

_Don't spit it out!_

Cooper was snickering as she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to stop herself from laughing as well.

It was a full minute before she regained enough control of herself to swallow.

"Why?" she gasped, "Why did you have to make that face?"

He just shrugged, grinned and said simply, "To make you smile."

* * *

Over the next week, though they didn't get to spend a lot of time together, Cooper made sure to keep reminding Sarah that they were friends.

On Saturday he, even though he had somewhere else to be, carried her books for her to the library where she spent the day trying to study.

On Sunday, he took her to the kitchens for another hot chocolate.

When they saw each other in the corridors between classes on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, he waved and grinned at her, making a point to ask her how her day was going.

Thursday, when they ran into each other as she was leaving the library, he reminded her about the Hogsmeade visit scheduled for that Saturday and asked if she would join him.

By the time Friday came around, Sarah was quite used to seeing him around and responding to his friendliness.

It was a kind of soothing balm for her, to have someone _see_ her and care about her.

It eased the hole in her heart created by loneliness, the one that often ached worse when around the Hogwarts Golden Couple, Teddy and Mackenzie.

She had mixed, bittersweet feelings whenever she saw them walking the corridors together.

She supposed that while this was her first Hogsmeade trip without Melinda and Olivia to accompany her, it was also Teddy and Mackenzie's first visit as a couple.

* * *

The morning of Saturday the 12th of October was bright, exciting and bitterly cold.

Sarah was standing in the Entrance Hall waiting for Cooper and as she listened to the howl of the wind outside, she was tempted to just stay in the castle.

Actually, as she waited, she felt the claws of nervousness sink into her, making her want to hide back in the warm common room.

_He's fifteen minutes late._

With each new group of bundled up students arriving in the Hall and then departing for Hogsmeade, Sarah's gut twisted hotly.

_What if he's not coming?_

She started breathing faster.

_What if this was a prank or something?_

She looked frantically around and saw no-one.

_Oh, Merlin, I'm an idiot!_

The sounds of footsteps invaded her panic.

She dashed over to the nearest statue and hid behind it.

Familiar voices floated over to her, causing her to risk peeking around the statue for a look.

Oh, the adorableness, it was nearly overwhelming.

Mackenzie and Teddy were standing a few metres away from Sarah.

Teddy was positively beaming at the dark haired girl, who, at that moment, seemed dazzled by him and slowly returned his grin.

They were talking quietly to each other now and Sarah couldn't hear the words.

Mackenzie shrugged and said something that caused Teddy to rummage around in one of his pockets.

With a triumphant smile, he produced a thick Gryffindor scarf.

He seemed sweetly hesitant for a moment before he very gently draped the warm material around Mackenzie's neck, insuring she would be protected from the harsh wind.

As Sarah's heart ached from the heat of affection for those two, Mackenzie blushed and said something shyly to the tall boy in front of her.

Teddy waved something away; it was a sort of 'Don't worry about me' gesture that led her to believe he had given Mackenzie his own scarf and was telling her he wouldn't need it.

He swooped down then, giving her a little kiss on her cheek.

Mackenzie giggled and then bit her lip with an expression that said 'oh, Merlin, I can't believe I made that noise.'

Teddy laughed then too and patted her on the head before asking her something.

Sarah watched as Mackenzie dug around in her own pockets and pulled out a pale green knitted hat.

The blue haired boy took the item from her and made it his job to place in snugly on her head.

She regarded him with a fond look that nevertheless said that she was perfectly capable of putting her own hat on.

It was then that Sarah realised how far she had leaned out from behind the statue.

She quickly retreated a bit but couldn't stop herself from observing her favourite pair again.

Teddy was gesturing toward the door, obviously suggesting they head off.

Mackenzie seemed to agree and walked over to the door, she looked over her shoulder at Teddy and winked at him.

Sarah shook her head as Teddy tripped over his own feet and then tried to act like it hadn't happened.

They were at the door then, Mackenzie was still laughing at Teddy who was now blushing adorably.

Teddy then opened the door, letting in the biting wind.

His loud exclamation was audible, even over the roaring gusts.

"Holy shit!"

Sarah's delight at the two swiftly died as thoughts of how things could have been tried to find purchase in her mind.

A voice banished the vile creeping vines digging into her thoughts.

"Sarah?"

She tore her gaze away from the now-closed door that she had been staring unseeingly at.

Blinking over at the person standing near her, she felt like a complete idiot.

And then she realised who it was and she wanted to slap a hand to her face.

"David," she said on a breath.

He folded his arms across his chest and regarded her, his expression amused.

"Why is it that I always find you hiding behind things and looking suspicious?" he asked interestedly.

Sarah frowned at him, trying to muster some indignation, "I have no idea to which you are referring, Mr Warrickson."

His lips quirked up in a half smile and he raised an inquiring eyebrow.

"David, are you coming?" a female voice called from behind him.

"See you round, Sarah," he said as he turned and walked away.

Sarah then focused on the girl he was walking to, trying to remember what her name was.

She was about the same height as Sarah, but had short dark red hair and a prefect badge pinned to her chest.

_Hmm…oh! Hannah Farley! David's Ravenclaw girlfriend!_

She watched the two as they headed out into the freezing outdoors.

_They seem like a cute couple…but why is everyone in Ravenclaw?_

Suddenly feeling lonelier than ever, Sarah drifted towards the marble staircase and plonked herself down.

She rested her elbow on her knee and her head in her palm.

"You're looking awfully miserable for someone who's about to spend the day with me," came another familiar voice.

Sarah jumped up and spun to face him, "Cooper!"

He grinned and cocked his head to the side, "Who else would it be? Meeting up with someone else, eh?"

She tried valiantly to fight the blush climbing up her neck but failed completely.

"I…I though you might've forgotten me or something," she said quietly.

_Yeah, that doesn't sound needy at all…I hate you _so_ much right now_.

Cooper nudged her playfully, "Oh, I could _never_ forget _you_, Sarah."

_Oh, here comes the blush again, damn it!_

She looked away from those intense blue eyes and suggested weakly that they leave.

He gallantly offered her his arm, she took it and they braced themselves for what was coming.

She thought she might shatter her teeth, they were clenched so tight.

Sarah huddled closer to Cooper and wished she had a scarf as well as her dark pink hat and thick cloak.

They both hunched over and didn't talk through the journey to the wizarding village.

Hogsmeade was as picturesque as ever with its thatched cottages and shops dusted with a light layer of frost.

Due to the chill wind, the only people on the street, along with Sarah and Cooper, were the few quickly rushing from shop to shop.

Sarah's eyes were fixed on the eye-catching sign of Honeydukes Sweetshop.

_Sugar Quills, Sugar Quills, Sugar Quills._

She ended up towing Cooper along, much to his amusement.

They pushed their way into the delicious warmth of the shop, eyes growing wide, as they always did, at the sight of shelves upon shelves of the most mouth-watering sweets imaginable.

Sarah released Cooper's arm and headed straight for her favourite treat.

Her heart drooped as it took in the price label on the container holding the delicate quills.

_Two sickles and 10 knuts each?_

She stared longingly, wishing she had the money.

Her parents had long since cut off her allowance; in fact, Sarah was surprised that it had continued for as long as it did.

When her weak stream of money had finally dried up, she had taken to stealing from others in order to fill her pockets but…she was being good now and sadly, that meant no stealing.

"Going to buy some?" Cooper asked, appearing at her side.

Sarah squirmed uncomfortably, "Um…no, I don't have any money…"

"Leave it in the castle, did you?" he joked.

"Something like that," she mumbled.

"Well, I'll just buy some of these Chocoballs and Ice Mice and then we can go to the Three Broomsticks and I'll buy you a butterbeer, how's that?"

Pushing away her depressing financial thoughts and turning resolutely away from the Sugar Quills, she responded with a somewhat forced smile and said,

"That'd be lovely, thank you."

It was just after he had paid for his sweets and as they were about to make their way to the door that someone called out loudly.

"Cooper!"

They both glanced around and noticed a brown haired boy pushing his way towards them through the packed crowd.

"Ryan, mate, what'cha doing?" grinned Cooper, "And where's Bradley?"

Ryan rolled his light blue eyes and gestured to a short figure struggling to pass through the crush of bodies, "He's still coming."

Sarah tried to be a small as possible, not wanting to be seen by Cooper's friends, lest they know her, remember her reputation and ruin her fledgling friendship.

"Hey, Sarah-," Cooper said, placing a hand on her shoulder and drawing her into the little group.

_Oh, great._

"-these are my best mates, Ryan and Bradley. Guys, this is my new friend, Sarah."

Bradley, with his short blonde hair and green eyes, appeared exhausted from the effort of making his way over to them.

Nevertheless, he and Ryan gave her enormous grins that, for some reason, made her skin crawl with even more unease than before.

"Sarah and I were just about to head to the Three Broomsticks," Cooper stated conversationally.

Ryan winced, "When we were there earlier, Andy Duroan was there too…"

Cooper's features scrunched up in annoyance, "Fantastic," he muttered.

Sarah felt confusion tickle her mind, _who's Andy Duroan?_

"Oh, well," sighed Cooper, "Guys, I'll catch up with you later. Come on, Sarah."

He grabbed her hand, made her wave to his friends and then dragged her out into the bitter cold.

With their quick pace, Cooper and Sarah were soon in the cosy and comfortable inn.

It was packed, as usual, but they managed to find a table by a wall.

Cooper left her to stew in her thoughts while he went to grab them some butterbeer.

_I don't know why, but I don't like his friends…maybe I'm just being possessive?_

"What's got you thinking so hard?" Cooper asked and he carefully placed the steaming mug before her a few minutes later.

"Oh, um…nothing," she said unconvincingly.

He narrowed his eyes at her as he sat down but made no comment.

Sarah eyes darted about the room and…settled on the person glaring at the boy across from her.

Her pulse quickened and her eyes widened, "Cooper, that guy over there is giving you the death stare."

Her friend swiftly reacted, turning to have a look.

"Oh," he said twisting back to face her, "That's just Andy Duroan, the biggest git in the world."

"I…I don't think he likes you very much," she commented a bit nervously.

Cooper shrugged his broad shoulders, "It's mutual."

Sarah took a small sip of her drink, feeling the liquid warm her.

"Why is that?" she was curious.

He frowned in remembered annoyance, "We've never really gotten along and then he copied an essay of mine in third year and passed it off as his own. The result was that _I_ got a detention for copying _him_, can you believe that?"

He let out a frustrated puff of air, "Anyway, ever since then we've been trying to one-up each other. Harmless pranks, you know?"

She glared over at Andy Duroan, disliking him on behalf of Cooper even though the guy was a Gryffindor like her.

She was still angrily looking at him as she took a swig of her butterbeer.

"Sarah," Cooper said to catch her attention.

Mouth full of the delicious drink, she turned and, upon seeing the ridiculous expression on Cooper's face, choked.

She spluttered, "Cooper! Stop doing that face!"

**AN: I'm curious to hear what you guys think of Cooper and of this whole chapter :D Please review :D**


	6. Chapter 5

**AN: Keep up the great reviews people! Also, a big thanks to all the guests that have been reviewing, its great! Special mention to guests 'Cool' and 'tiffy' for great reviews, (Especially 'Cool' because they definitely cheered me up!)**

**I have a tumblr thingy now, the link is on my profile, i would love it if you followed me :D**

**IMPORTANT NOTE- If you are going to criticize me or this story, please make it _constructive_, not like that anonymous reviewer who said '**_Honestly, dear, do you think you can write? This is far too screwed up to actually have been written by a human being_**'... yeah...that really helps me improve the story...thanks, and thanks for making a snap judgement after only reading the prologue ;) You are a treasure *extreme sarcasm* **

**Now, you lovelies who like the Cooper character...this chapter is for you... ;)**

It had been creeping up on her for the two weeks since that Hogsmeade weekend.

It started once they had returned from the village and had raced each other up to the fifth floor.

They had shared a laugh at the expense of the stuffy Head Boy who had demanded they stopped running through the corridors.

Sarah had then noticed Melinda and Olivia strutting around the corner and for that moment, shame had burned through her.

Those girls were walking reminders of the horrible things she had done.

Preoccupied as she had been trying to fight the crushing guilt, she had barely noticed as Cooper said goodbye and left for Ravenclaw Tower.

It had been over the week after that that she had felt the guilt return, though this time because she had realised that Cooper was making time to hang out with only her and he was leaving his friends frequently because he knew she didn't feel ready to be in their group.

The final straw, however, had come yesterday as Sarah was sitting at one of the small tables in the common room.

She had watched as Mackenzie's best friend, Isabel Ogden, had flounced into the room and over to the cute couple cuddling on the couch.

The girl had had a little box of Chocolate Frogs held proudly in her hands and she had explained how she had been saving them so she could give them as a present to Teddy and Mackenzie, who had been very surprised at that point.

Isabel, renowned in the sixth years for being a chocolate fanatic, had reverently handed over the small box.

As Sarah had watched the exchange, she had felt equal measure of affection and guilt.

If anything…permanent had happened to Mackenzie during that awful attack, Isabel would have crumbled away.

That thought had caused breathing to become extremely difficult for Sarah.

And then Mackenzie had held up her finger, clearly telling her friend to wait a moment, and then dashed up into the dormitory and back.

She had something concealed behind her back and had only revealed it once she was in front of Isabel.

Mackenzie had held out an identical box of Chocolate Frogs.

The two friends had had the same idea and they laughed together before hugging each other tightly and falling on top of Teddy.

_I almost ruined that beautiful friendship,_ Sarah had thought in despair.

That had been the thought banging around in her head for the night, refusing to let her sleep.

And it was the reason she now stood in front of Cooper Mard in a corridor on the sixth floor.

"We…we shouldn't be friends anymore," she said shakily.

Disbelief coated his face, "What?"

She took a strengthening breath, trying to dispel the feeling like there was a giant invisible hand squeezing her body.

"We shouldn't be friends anymore," she repeated, this time a bit steadier.

"Sarah," he said through gritted teeth, "I've had a very long day and I would _appreciate_ it if you wouldn't joke like this, okay?"

"I-I'm not joking, w-we shouldn't be friends," she tried to say as calmly as she could, hiding her growing anxiety.

"_What_?" he questioned, his tone deadly.

"I don't want…," she started, "I can't…I shouldn't be your friend anymore, Cooper."

He frowned fiercely, his eyebrows drawn down tight over his anger filled eyes, "Why the hell not?"

A million responses rattled around in her mind all along the lines of,

_I don't deserve to be happy, I'm not good enough to have a friend, I'm a horrible person and shouldn't be happy…at least not yet, it's better for you this way…_

"We can work this out," he insisted, still startlingly livid.

She quietly said, "I was stupid to think we could be friends, let's just leave it at that."

"Leave it at _that_?" Cooper snarled, his face contorting madly, "Do you have any idea how much work I put into you?"

Sarah felt her face go slack, "What do you mean?" she whispered.

He didn't hear, he was pacing back and forwards in front of her, growing more agitated by the second.

"All of these weeks, wasted!" he ranted, "What's your problem, Sarah? I've been working so hard to be nice, to be the perfect friend, to get you to trust me!"

He spun to face her, stepping closer, pointing an accusing finger at her chest.

"Why'd you have to go and ruin it?" he demanded, fury in his dark blue eyes.

Lungs burning, heart thundering, brain panicking, she couldn't respond.

"Little Miss Sarah Montague," he sneered, eyes raking over her, "you just love ruining things, don't you? That's what you're good at, isn't it?"

With every word, she flinched, feeling like hot metal claws were shredding her insides.

Tears sprung up and caused Cooper to snort derisively.

"Pathetic, you, Sarah the Slut, crying…_disgusting_."

With those parting words, the boy, whose smiles and words she had once treasured, tore out her heart and stomped all over it.

Sarah watched through blurry brown eyes as he stalked off down the corridor.

**AN: Sign in and review and i'll give you a sneak peak into the next chapter! ;)**


	7. Chapter 6

**AN: Thank you so much for all the great reviews! And dont forget, if you review from now on, i will reply to you with a sneak peek into the next chapter :D**

Being friendless and alone was worse this time, because she now knew what she had been missing.

Sitting at breakfast and staring at the plate of scrambled eggs she was mindlessly stirring, Sarah sighed forlornly.

It had been two days since Cooper had shown his true colours, but the intense sting of his words was still painfully fresh.

Not once did she think 'what did I do to deserve this hurt?'

She believed it was only fair that she receive as much pain as she had dished out.

Owls suddenly swooped into the Hall, carrying packages, letters and papers.

Her family never sent her anything and she didn't subscribe to the _Daily Prophet_ or _Witch Weekly_, so that was why she was surprised when a tawny owl dropped something into her eggs.

She straightened in her seat, glancing around, wondering whose parcel she had gotten by mistake.

But it was no mistake.

Written clearly on the face of the small brown-wrapped box, was her name.

Confusion smothered her.

_Who would send _me_ anything?_

Sarah glanced around again and, as usual, nobody paid her any attention.

She picked up the little box, pulled off its wrapping and then hesitated.

_Could it be dangerous?_

Unsure but immeasurably curious, she opened the box.

Nestled in a dark silky material, was a shiny and delicate silver bracelet.

_But…from who?_

As she stared at it, she felt as if her brain was shorting out and it only got worse as she carefully picked up the bracelet and read the inscription written in an elegant scrawl.

_For the fairest of them all…_

Heart clenching painfully, Sarah glanced around again before slipping the circle of metal onto her wrist.

She half expected something to happen, a curse or spell to be activated but…nothing happened.

Sarah watched everyone after that, looking for any hint of attention being sent her way, any clue that would help her solve this puzzle.

For the rest of the day, the mystery of who sent it to her and why, turned over in her mind relentlessly.

* * *

She sat down to breakfast the next day, still none the wiser to who was behind the special delivery from the day before.

Another little box was dropped into her food again.

Feeling a mix of emotions; curiosity, confusion and anticipation, swirl around her mind, Sarah opened the box.

Inside this one was a sparkling silver hairclip that had a simple but pretty butterfly design.

She picked it up reverently and became so absorbed in studying it that she failed to notice when someone sat down beside her.

"Got a secret admirer?" David Warrickson asked, nudging her lightly.

Sarah jumped, dropping the hairclip she had been holding so carefully.

Heart hammering harder now, it was with widened eyes that she looked over at the hazel eyed boy sitting beside her.

He raised his eyebrows in a 'why are you looking at me like I'm an alien?' sort of way.

She felt heat creep up her neck and paint her cheeks pink.

"It's pretty," he said, indicating the silver accessory now splattered with eggs.

She frowned and delicately dug out her newest gift from her food, carefully cleaning it with a nearby napkin.

"Yes," she agreed quietly, "It _is_ pretty."

"So…who'd you get it from?" he asked, his tone teasing.

Sarah gave a little shrug, "I don't know, a _secret_ admirer, right?"

He shifted uncomfortably like he realised he had said something stupid, "Right…so…who do you _think_ you got it from?"

Her eyes drifted around the room but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

She looked sidelong at David, "Did you send it?" she asked with a small smile.

"No!" he exclaimed, "I have a girlfriend, remember? And I don't go around sending things to girls in the post when I have a girlfriend."

Sarah narrowed her brown eyes at him, "So…only when you don't have a girlfriend then?"

He closed his eyes and scrunched up his face, "That's not what I meant and you know it."

"I was only joking about you sending it, David," Sarah rolled her eyes.

_Kinda…_

"I bet not knowing is driving you mad," he commented.

_Yes, it bloody well is!_

"Not at all," she said coolly.

It was then that she remembered how things like this never used to bother her, like how she didn't know what was in that letter Mackenzie got all those weeks ago.

But this…this was about her, so of course she was going mental with curiosity.

"Right," David drawled, "Forgive me if I don't believe you…"

Sarah sent him a disapproving stare, causing him to clear his throat and squirm in his seat once more.

"Anyway…" he started, clearly wanting to change the subject, "It's Halloween tomorrow."

She deliberately kept staring at him like he had done something wrong; he became extremely flustered and even blushed.

"Um…" he strained, "I… really think there should be a Halloween costume party this year… it would be a lot of-" he faltered and just trailed off.

Sarah almost laughed at his unease but instead she just stood up and walked as confidently as she could out of the Great Hall, leaving him still fumbling with his sentences.

By the time she got to the Entrance Hall, she felt shaky and weak, as she always did upon the rare occasions that someone unexpected talked to her.

Needing to distract herself, she started twisting the bracelet around her wrist and stroking the smooth metal as she strode up the marble staircase.

The actions became absentminded as she allowed herself to indulge in a daydream about a fictional, and very good looking, classmate of hers that was, of course, completely in love with her.

It was nice for a moment, to pretend that there was some tall, dark and handsome young man sending her pretty things because he wanted to.

By the time she arrived in the common room, Sarah had convinced herself that there really _was_ an attractive student with a big crush on her.

The little voice in the back of her mind was trying to shout at her that she was being stupid and that no one would _ever_ fancy her…but she was too caught up in her imagined story, creating various scenarios where she and her admirer would meet and fall in love.

She managed to stop fantasising in class enough to actually get some work done, however that _was_ after she got called on to answer a question in Potions that she didn't know the answer to.

* * *

When she was walking into the Great Hall for dinner, Sarah happened to glance over at the Ravenclaw table as she passed.

She half expected Cooper to be glaring at her, but he wasn't…his friend Ryan was grinning at her though…

_That is really weird._

She decided to pretend that she didn't see him.

She continued her walk and sat in her usual, slightly isolated, spot.

The first and second years on her sides always squished themselves together so they didn't have to get close to the big, scary sixth year.

Sarah rolled her eyes and reached for some potatoes with her fork.

"What was that face for?"

A few people across and down from her, was none other than David Warrickson.

_Why is he always around?_

She then mentally shook herself, _It's food time and we're in the same house, of course he's around._

"Nothing," she told him, embarrassed that he probably saw her looking super unattractive.

He shrugged, "Did you find out any more about your secr-"

"Shh!" Sarah hissed, "I don't want everyone to know! It's not a big deal or anything."

He grinned sheepishly, "Sorry…but have you?"

Sarah's eyebrows furrowed slightly, "Why do you care?"

David shrugged again, still smiling broadly, "No reason really, I just love a good story and I'm curious."

Feeling uncomfortable with his interest, she reacted snappily, "What? You're wondering who on earth would like _me_, right? You think it's so far-fetched?"

The wounded look on his face made her want to take the words back immediately.

"No," he said quietly, "I just…never mind."

David stared resolutely and unseeingly at his plate.

_Great, another reason to hate myself…_

"Hey," she called to him softly, deciding then that she could fix this, "David."

He barely raised his head as he looked over at her sadly.

"I'm…"

_Wow, it's getting hard to breathe._

"I'm…sorry, okay? I'm…sorry," she muttered, forcing out the words that hadn't been spoken by her in years.

His smile was slow but grew so bright that Sarah was sure his cheeks must be hurting.

"Don't look at me like that…" she whispered.

Impossibly, his grin grew wider.

"Oh, shove off, Davey," she mumbled irritably, "It's not that big a deal."

If she hadn't been mortified, his expression would have been hilarious.

"Davey?" he questioned, a slightly disbelieving smile on his face.

_Oh, _Merlin_!_

Wanting to hide behind her hands, Sarah instead said awkwardly, "Oh...um…oops?"

He tilted his head to the side, as if examining her, "Everyone calls me David…well, except Teddy, he calls me Dave."

She wanted to disappear then and winced, what could be more awful than this scene?

"You can call me Davey if you want," he surprised her by saying.

She glanced quickly at him, taking in his own surprised expression.

The realisation that the younger students around were staring at her, splashed through her like icy water.

She mentally cursed as she felt embarrassment colour her skin.

A first year scooted a bit closer to her; she ignored him and thought nothing of it until a few moments later when he spoke.

"You're really pretty."

Sarah blinked at her half full plate, uncaring of the conversation.

It wasn't until David said something about it that she realised the kid was talking to her.

Her eyebrows rose in surprise and she turned her head to look at the young boy.

Intelligent hazel eyes stared up at her interestedly, even as he pushed a pair of glasses further back onto his head of untidy jet black hair.

_Well, _he's_ adorable._

"I'm James Potter," he grinned charmingly.

"I'm…"

_A first year wouldn't know of my reputation, would he? Well…better to be safe than sorry I guess._

"Sarah," she finished, giving the kid a small smile.

"I'm James Potter!"

The kid's eyes widened then and he turned a bright red and slapped a hand to his face as he realised he had just repeated himself.

Not so subtly, James Potter sidled away from her and, not so quietly, said to the ginger kid beside him.

"Freddie! Stop laughing and don't you ever tell anyone about that!"

He looked hesitantly over at her and then turned back to Freddie.

"Stop it!"

"Ow!"

Sarah judged from the loud shout of pain, that James had smacked his friend.

Embarrassed on behalf of the young boy, Sarah glanced around, her eyes landing on David, who was at that moment covering his mouth with his hands and shaking with silent laughter, his eyes sparkling with tears.

"David Warrickson," she admonished, "Control yourself!"

That was when he started gasping for air and the tears started leaking down his cheeks.

By the time dessert rolled around, he had calmed down enough to actually eat, though he did let out the occasional chuckle whenever he looked at Sarah or James.

_Git…_

* * *

That night, Sarah fell asleep quickly and stayed peaceful throughout.

She had been very tired of late because of her late nights and early mornings, avoiding dorm mates was very hard work…

It was a good thing she had managed to get such a revitalizing sleep because the day would bring her much trouble.

As she walked down to a corridor on the first floor, slowly making her way to breakfast, Sarah played with her bracelet.

Mackenzie and her friends walked passed, prompting Sarah to lower her head in the hopes that they would ignore her.

Caught up in their own happy world, they didn't see her.

But Sarah, however, did see something.

It was her bracelet and the silver was gone, leaving a dull, rusted looking metal.

_What in Merlin's name happened to it?_

Her heart was flickering madly in her chest as she quickly slid the bracelet off her wrist in order to examine it closer.

She felt as if she were sinking in quicksand then, for she had deduced that her special gift was no more than a cheap ring of metal, charmed to look expensive.

Sarah reached up and pulled out the hairclip then; sighing in relief as she observed that it still remained bright and silver.

A frown pulled at her features as she turned a corner and leaned back against the wall of the corridor.

As she wondered if whoever sent the jewellery knew about the charm or not, Sarah watched as various students continued walking along the corridor she had turned off from.

_Did they spend a lot of money on it, thinking it was worth it?_

"What are you going to send her this time?" a male voice asked from around the corner.

Her interest caught, she edged closer to the voice, knowing they wouldn't be able to see her.

Footsteps grew louder and then stopped.

She could see the shadows of three boys as they stood and talked.

"Hmm…what is it again…" a slightly familiar voice wondered, "Oh, a necklace! That's right, and I'm going to get…hey, Mason!"

Another shadow joined the other three and an unknown voice asked, "Yeah?"

"I need you to do me a favour, mate," said the speaker she now recognised as Ryan, "I need to you deliver this to Sarah Montague at breakfast."

"You mean Sarah the Slut?" Mason questioned.

Sarah winced and almost decided to leave then.

"That's the one," Ryan agreed, "Can you do it?"

"Yeah, sure, but are you going to tell me why?"

"What do you think, Cooper? Should we tell him?" inquired Ryan.

Her ex-friend's shadow shrugged, "Sure, why not?"

The boys moved closer together and Ryan began to explain.

"We've been sending her jewellery in the post, making her think someone fancies her."

"Hey, Ryan," interrupted Cooper, "Where did you even get that line about 'the fairest of them all'?"

One of the shadows she had her eyes glued to, seemed to shrug.

"It's from some silly Muggle story; I figured it would win her over."

"Nice!" laughed Cooper.

"So?" asked Mason, "What's the point?"

"Well, you see," Bradley joined in, "Cooper made a mess of things and now he has no chance with Sarah but now…_Ryan_ can get close to her with this 'secret admirer' stuff and they can bond over how horrible he was to her!"

"And…" drawled Mason, "How does that help him get her to forgive him?"

Well," started Ryan, "After a while I can start saying stuff about how sorry Cooper is about hurting her feelings."

"Yeah and then I'll say something nice to her and she'll forgive me! She's nice enough, just definitely no Ravenclaw," Cooper joked, elbowing his friend, "She won't figure out any of it."

Sarah could not believe her ears, she was stunned, they thought she was stupid?

"And then you and her can get back to where you were," stated Bradley, his tone happy.

"And you want to do that because…?" Mason sounded confused.

Cooper's shadow clapped another on their shoulder, "Once I get back into her good books it won't take long to get into her skirt!"

The boys roared with laughter, making a wave of nausea wash over her.

"Ryan," Bradley asked then, "Where did you even get this necklace?"

Sarah watched nervously as one shadow leaned closer to the others and spoke in a confidential tone.

"It was originally a button and a shoelace that I found on the ground," he then laughed, "Merlin, I love magic."

Her breath caught in her throat and her heartbeat stumbled, this could _not_ be happening.

Cooper, Ryan, Mason and Bradley's laughter echoed down the corridor as they started walking slowly once more.

Sarah was shaking with anger and shame, her fists clenched and her jaw cemented shut by the powerful emotion.

How could they do that? How could anyone be so nasty? How could she have been so stupid as to think there was someone out there who genuinely cared about her?

A very strong part of her wanted to march right on past them, letting them know she heard every vile word.

An equally strong part however, demanded that she yell at them and maybe even flick a few hexes at them.

Her joints, fortunately for the boys, seemed to have locked themselves in place, preventing her from dishing out any revenge.

She closed her brown eyes, trying to breathe through the white hot rage keeping her still.

_You've done things much worse_, her conscience reminded her sadly.

It was that thought that drained her of all energy, collapsing her to the unforgiving stone floor.

The anger was gone, dissipated in the wake of realisation.

She weakly threw her bracelet and hairclip at the wall across from her.

_Why do good things never last for me?_

**AN: What do you guys think about this chapter? And how is the pacing of the story so far? Sometimes i feel like its going too fast but then other times it seems too slow :P**

**Also, what do you think about her calling him 'Davey'? Because as i was writing that scene, i realised that i kept writing Sarah as calling him 'Dave' and i was all like 'But that's Teddy's name for him, Sarah, you can't call him that' :P So yeah... :D Please review!**


	8. Chapter 7

**AN:Fun chapter, yay! :D So this fic is going to have 24 chapters and an epilogue, its all planned out and stuff so yay :D**

**Special thanks to my lovely reviewers! You keep me wanting to write :D Extra special thanks to _ChaserMidnight_ for reviewing every chapter and to the guest _ThisIsAwesome_, your review made my day ;)**

Aware but uncaring of the fact that she was missing breakfast; Sarah remained crumpled on the floor, trying desperately to not give into the need to cry.

She stayed that way until she heard footsteps coming her way.

Ruthlessly shoving her feelings of hopelessness and despair away into the depths of her mind, she forced strength into her body and shakily stood up.

Sarah then scrubbed at her face and tried harder to pull herself out of her daze of pain.

She needed to focus, she needed to be strong.

Taking solace in the fact that today, being a Thursday, she would only have double Transfiguration that day; Sarah began to head back to the common room.

Unwillingly, her thoughts turned to that awful conversation she had overheard.

_I wonder what they'll do now, seeing as Mason couldn't deliver that 'gift' to me at breakfast…_

"Hey, Sarah!" someone called out from behind her.

Startled, she spun around.

Her heart sunk as she watched David stride closer to her, his long legs making quick work of the distance.

Unease coated her; he was the only one who knew that someone had been sending her things in the mail.

_Maybe he won't bring it up…_

"You weren't at breakfast," he stated as he stopped beside her.

Surprise and a tiny bit of hope sparked, someone had noticed she wasn't around?

Any positive emotions were quickly stamped out as she recalled exactly why she hadn't made it to the Great Hall.

David was looking at her expectantly, clearly wanting her to explain herself.

She sighed and then said, "I just wasn't very hungry, that's all."

He tilted his head of curly reddish brown hair, watching her concernedly, "Are you feeling alright?"

Biting her tongue so she would not be sarcastic, Sarah shrugged.

Wanting to lighten the mood, David smiled at her and tried to joke, "I would have thought you'd be at breakfast no matter what, you wouldn't want to miss out on something from your Secret Admirer, right?"

Sarah winced as pain stabbed at her.

_So much for him not bringing it up…_

David stepped closer, placing a hand on her shoulder, "What's the matter, Sarah? What happened?"

_Oh no, don't be nice to me!_ She thought desperately, knowing that kindness would bring back tears.

Wanting to get away from him, she snapped, "It's nothing, David. Leave me alone."

She jerked out from under his hand and tried to march away.

He grabbed her arm, causing a flood of painful memories for Sarah.

She screamed and thrashed to get out of his grip as in her mind, he quickly became the leader of those Ravenclaw boys from weeks ago.

"Sarah! Sarah, calm down!"

Tears streamed down her face, she was sobbing then and still fighting him, though her efforts were much weaker now.

Arms were wrapped around her and she stopped struggling completely, just burying her face into David's chest.

He was stroking her back, offering silent comfort.

It made her cry even more as she realised this was the first time since that time with Teddy weeks ago, that someone was holding her as she cried.

_I'm so pathetic; I need to stop crying all over people._

Shame burned through her, it was nearly as crushing as the self-loathing and was ultimately the reason she pushed herself out of David's embrace.

Staring at her shoes so she would not be able to see the look of pity that was likely on his face, Sarah sniffed loudly and dashed away her tears.

"I-I'm s-sorry," she hiccupped.

"It's fine, Sarah," David said quietly, "Though I am curious about why that happened…"

She could tell by his gentle but firm tone that he would one day demand an explanation.

_Why does he even care?_

He only took a moment to realise she wasn't going to say anything.

Sighing, he took a small step back.

"You can talk to me, you know," he said softly.

Sarah couldn't help but look up at him, "Why?" she whispered, "Why are you always so nice to me?"

A tiny smile tugged at his lips, "Because, we're friends, aren't we?"

Her mind blanked.

"F-Friends?" she asked, hesitantly.

His smile grew, "Aren't we?"

Fresh tears welled up, forcing Sarah to wipe them away quickly.

"I…I haven't had the best luck with friends lately," she said quietly.

David frowned, "Yeah, what happened between you and that guy…Cooper, right?"

Sarah took a steadying breath before answering, "He wasn't who I thought he was."

"That's too bad," muttered David, "It was nice to see you happy."

He brightened then, "Oh well, he obviously wasn't good enough to be your friend."

Winking, he added, "But I will be."

Warmth enveloped her even as she struggled with the idea he presented.

Cooper_ wasn't good enough to be _my_ friend?_

She shook her head in wonder.

"What?" questioned David in a teasing tone, "You don't want to be my friend?"

"No!" she squeaked.

He raised an eyebrow, acting all offended.

"Agh!" she complained, "You know what I mean!"

He laughed then, "No, I'm afraid I don't."

"Davey…" she moaned.

He grinned at her and it was then that she realised he was doing it on purpose.

She smacked his arm, puffed out a breath and then stared up at him.

There was a soft look in his eyes, as well as something that told her he was proud of distracting her and making her happy.

And just like that, she felt weighted down, her sadness returning.

"I don't deserve a friend like you," she mumbled.

David gave her a disapproving frown, "Says who?"

"Me," she said softy, eyes trained on the floor now.

He snorted, causing her to quickly glance back to him.

"Too bad," he laughed.

Sarah's brow furrowed, "What?"

He gave her a 'Do I really need to explain it?' look and then sighed, still smiling.

"It's a good thing that it's in the job description of 'friend' that we don't always have to agree on things," David spoke in mock seriousness.

_Huh?_

"So…what?" she questioned, "You're going to be my friend whether I like it or not?"

He grinned triumphantly and folded his arms across his chest, "Exactly!"

He paused, thinking, "But…don't say it like that…it sounds creepy."

Sarah couldn't help it, she laughed and shook her head at him, "If you say so…friend."

David was delighted and showed it by clapping his hands together and jumping on the spot.

She pointed a warning finger at him, "But if you do that when we're in public, I think I might have to disown you."

He subsided immediately and gasped, clutching his heart, "You wouldn't!"

She smirked, "Do you want to test me?"

Pulling a face, David vigorously tossed his head side to side, "Nope!"

A group of students suddenly emerged from a side corridor and soon the area was flooding with people.

Sarah and David shuffled over to the wall.

"David!" a girl called.

They both turned about to find the voice and then watched as Hannah Farley pushed her way through the river of bodies and towards them.

"I've been looking for you!" she smiled as she scolded him, reaching to two of them.

Shifting guiltily, David apologised and greeted Hannah with a quick kiss.

Sarah averted her eyes, feeling awkwardness paint her cheeks red.

"Sarah."

She looked over at the other girl, surprised that she was being addressed.

"Um," she started, "Hi?"

"You look so different," the red haired prefect said, looking at Sarah speculatively.

"Thanks?" she winced.

_Time to flee the scene…_

"Well," Sarah began, backing away slowly, "I'll see you later then, in Transfiguration?"

She didn't wait to see either of them answer, instead she turned away and disappeared as quickly as she could without it looking as if she were running away.

Which she was.

* * *

A few hours later, Sarah plonked herself down in her seat in class.

She had taken to sitting in the back next to the empty desk that, for some reason, no-one wanted to sit at.

_So today has been eventful…I've overheard a horrible plot, I've spazzed out in front on Davey…David I mean, and I somehow ended up with him as my friend…what next?_

Slowly, the seats filled up and it wasn't long until Professor Rhodenson marched into the Transfiguration classroom.

He stood at the front and started rambling on about some project they were going to do on Human Transfiguration.

"Alright then," the Professor clapped his hands together, "I'll put you into pairs now."

Dread filled Sarah, making her stomach drop.

_Oh, I hate when they do this…_

Students got up and moved about the room to where they were directed, and most of them were rather happy, or at least secretly happy, with who they were partnered with.

That was until…

"Mr Winchcomb," called Professor Rhodenson, "You are paired with Miss Montague so head on over to the seat at the back."

A voice whined, "But Professor! I don't _want_ to sit at _that_ desk!"

The teacher frowned and rubbed his brow like he had a headache.

"Fine," he sighed, "You can move next to Miss Ogden…Stop pouting over there Mr Isaacs, I'm sure Mr Winchcomb won't steal your girlfriend away from you."

The class laughed and Toby blushed.

_I guess I'll be on my own for this then…_

"Does anyone feel brave enough to sit at the back with Miss Montague?" questioned the professor tiredly.

"I volunteer!" David chirped, his hand flying up in the air, "I volunteer as tribute!"

Those in the room that understood what he was referencing, laughed as David jumped up and hastily picked up his bag.

"How very noble of you," drawled Professor Rhodenson.

David strode fairly confidently towards Sarah, who was still processing his outburst.

However, as he came to a stop beside the desk that was now his, he eyed it warily, causing Sarah to wonder if he was second guessing his decision.

_What is with people and this desk?_

Gingerly, David slid into his seat and then waited, clearly expecting something momentous to happen.

Nothing did.

Sighing in relief, he grinned at her.

After that, for some reason, Sarah had a hard time concentrating on what the professor was talking about.

She berated herself, _it's hard enough to pass this class without you spacing out all the time, focus already._

"So where should we start?" David asked, gesturing to a piece of parchment on his desk.

Sarah blinked, "What?"

Shaking his head and chuckling at her, David then explained, "The project, remember? We have to make a list of how and why Human Transfiguration would be useful and dangerous."

At her blank look, David just smiled and kept going, "Then we each have to write an essay on historical uses of it and…?"

He waited for her, wanting to see if she had been listening to anything the teacher had said.

She pulled a face, "And then that's it?"

David slapped a palm to his face, "You didn't pay attention at all, did you? You were meant to say 'and then next week we'll have a test on everything'."

Sheepishly, Sarah shrugged, "Sorry…Transfiguration is not a strength of mine."

_Nothing is actually…_

"Well then," he said, grinning, "It's a good thing that I happen to be rather good at it."

"Really?" Sarah asked, hope in her voice.

He narrowed his eyes at her, "Are you doubting me, Miss Montague? I might have to disown you…"

Sarah surprised herself by rolling her eyes and elbowing him lightly.

"Ha ha," she said, "Very funny."

Suddenly Professor Rhodenson called out, "You two in the back! Are you working? Because it doesn't look like you are."

"Sorry Professor!" David responded with an apologetic smile.

Sarah tried to conceal her blush by busying herself with pulling out her textbook and more parchment.

"Well," drawled David, "Seeing as_ I_ was the only one paying attention, _you_ are going to be the scribe and do the writing for our list."

Seeing his smug expression, Sarah wanted to protest but instead she let out a loud sigh picked up her quill.

_Stupid Davey, being all reasonable…_

"What was that?" he asked, smirking.

_Argh._

"Nothing," she said hurriedly, hating herself for speaking without realising it.

"Huh," David mused, leaning back in his chair and tapping a finger to his lips for a second, "Cause it _sounded_ an awful lot like '_Stupid Davey, being all reasonable…_'"

Even while embarrassment tried to take hold of her, Sarah glared at the boy beside her and announced, "I don't want to be your friend anymore."

He pouted in pretend sadness, "That's not very nice."

"_You're_ not very nice," she countered, resisting the urge to stick her tongue out at him.

"You wound me with your cruel, cruel words," he wiped away an imaginary tear.

David then noticed the professor heading their way and nudged Sarah.

"Guess we actually have to start working now," she muttered unhappily.

Once they started however, Sarah and David actually worked very well together and managed to get quite a substantial number of items on their list by the time the class was nearly finished.

Sarah handed the parchment over to him so he could go over what they already had.

"You have very nice handwriting," he commented.

Sarah frowned, a little affronted, "You sound surprised."

"Uh," he fumbled, "I'm not, I'm just…"

"Surprised?" she supplied

"Yeah!" he agreed immediately.

"Ha!" Sarah jabbed a finger at his arm.

He screwed up his features before trying to dig himself out of the hole he made.

"I _mean_…I am a bit surprised that, uh, someone can have such nice handwriting?"

Sarah raised an eyebrow and tried not to smile, "Are you asking me or telling me?"

"Telling?" his expression hilariously unsure.

She laughed softly and surprised herself yet again, this time by reaching over and ruffling his curly hair.

_Why is it so easy to be around this guy?_

The bell rang then, causing her thoughts to veer away from that topic.

Sarah packed away her belongings and then stood, noticing David also standing.

"If we're going to do well on this Human Transfiguration stuff," he said, "then we should probably have a couple of study sessions together, what do you think?"

As she nodded in answer, David's girlfriend appeared at his side and wrapped her arms around him.

Wanting to leave, Sarah edged around her desk.

"Sarah, wait," Hannah started, catching her attention.

She looked over at the other girl, who had then let go of David's torso.

"Yeah?" she asked quietly.

"Look," said Hannah not unkindly, "I'm sorry if I was a bit weird before, it's just…"

Sarah waved the red haired girls concerns away, "It doesn't matter."

She tried to leave again, putting her head down and manoeuvring awkwardly around desks and chairs.

"David," she heard Hannah address quietly, "Why is it that I keep finding you and Sarah together? And why," she lowered her voice, "do you act so…different around her?"

Curious and trying not to blush, Sarah peeked at David as she 'dropped' her bag and stooped to pick it up.

Unlike her, David wasn't blushing or seeming to be at all uncomfortable. He was frowning in thought, his eyebrows furrowed.

Then he simply shrugged, his expression abruptly changing to one of unconcern.

"Not sure," he said lightly, "She's my friend now though and we have to do this project together so I guess we'll be studying together."

Sarah was almost at the door when she heard David tease, "You're not jealous are you Hannah?"

The girl made a sound of derision, "Of her? No, don't be silly."

_Ouch._

As occupied as Sarah was trying to not be affected by that remark, she failed to hear the hint of untruth in Hannah's statement.

* * *

Many hours later, Sarah was drifting around the sixth floor, slowly making her way to the seventh.

It was as she was wondering if that Mason guy would try to deliver the necklace to her tomorrow, that she bumped into someone.

Well, someone bumped into _her_.

Sarah stumbled back a few steps and then reached out to steady the other person.

"Mackenzie?" she asked, "Are you alright?"

The dark haired girl smiled apologetically at her, "Hi, Sarah, sorry for running into you, I wasn't looking where I was going."

_Uh…what now? Merlin, I should leave…_

"It's fine," she told the other girl, "But I should probably go now…"

"Yes, you probably should," Mackenzie agreed.

_Wait…what?_

Mackenzie's green eyes widened, "I didn't mean it like that!" she said quickly, "I just meant that it's nearly past curfew and I'm doing my rounds as prefect."

"Oh," Sarah said with a strange sense of relief.

It was then that she noticed something odd.

"Mackenzie?" she asked hesitantly, "Where's Teddy? Doesn't he usually try to go on patrol with you?"

The other girl beamed and, for a second, got a dreamy expression on her face before she shook herself slightly.

"He's with Toby up in the common room. According to Toby, I've been stealing Teddy away from him," she laughed.

Sarah couldn't stop herself from smiling and commenting, "That's cute."

_Imagine what would have happened if…no! Stop it, she's fine, let it go! But-_

Mackenzie interrupted Sarah's mental debate, "I should've told Toby to stop stealing Isabel from me," she joked.

"I thought you lot all hung out in one group?" Sarah enquired curiously.

"Oh, we do," Mackenzie confirmed, "Toby's just being a drama queen."

She seemed to remember something thing and laughed, grinning at the memory.

She shook her head, "That boy is ridiculous."

"I don't know him very well…" Sarah said uneasily.

Mackenzie cheeks turned faintly pink and she cleared her throat, "Right, well…you could always hang out with us one day, if you wanted to."

Sarah felt both her eyebrows rise in surprise. She only briefly entertained the idea of accepting the offer.

_Loud, friendly, happy, nice people…all of whom are very close to the girl I helped attack…_

Looking guiltily away, Sarah mumbled, "Thanks…"

Mackenzie fidgeted and looked down at her hands.

"Oh yeah," she said, clearly just remembering something.

Sarah watched as the other girl examined the little booklet in her hands.

Mackenzie gestured with it, "This was the reason I wasn't watching where I was going."

Forehead crinkling with puzzled interest, Sarah asked, "What is it exactly?"

"This?" Mackenzie questioned, waving it around, "It's the_ Distant Shopper Catalogue_, surely you've heard of it?"

It sounded vaguely familiar, "Is that the thingy that advertises stuff from Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley shops?"

"Exactly," Mackenzie grinned and then quoted, "'Why leave the comfort of your home? Owl us with your order today.'"

Sarah chuckled at the silly voice the girl put on and forced back the ever present guilt.

"Did you find anything you liked in there?" Sarah asked, wanting to distract herself.

Mackenzie frowned a little, "Well there was lots of nice things in there but I'm not looking for something to buy myself."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I'm on the lookout for a great Christmas present for Teddy," Mackenzie answered, looking a tad worried.

"It's a little bit early for Christmas shopping, isn't it?" Sarah queried.

The girl shrugged, "Not really and I want to find the best thing for him…which reminds me…"

An expression of complete nervousness settled on Mackenzie's pretty features.

"What's the matter?" Sarah quickly asked in concern.

Mackenzie bit her lip for a moment before responding, "It's just…Teddy asked me if I wanted to go to his family's for Christmas…"

Sarah squeaked happily and then slapped a hand over her mouth, eyes wide.

The green eyed girl before her burst into laughter, all earlier worry disappeared now.

"What," she gasped, clutching her stomach, "was… that, Sarah?"

Glowing bright pink, Sarah sheepishly said, "One of the most embarrassing moments of my life?"

Mackenzie actually snorted, which only got her laughing more.

When she had calmed down a bit, she eyed Sarah and grinned, "You're pretty cool, you know that, right?"

Before Sarah could even comprehend what Mackenzie had said, the girl handed her the _Distant Shopper Catalogue_ and said, "Here, you can have this, I have it pretty much memorised. Besides, I should probably stop reading things when I'm supposed to be patrolling. See you round, Sarah!"

And with that, Mackenzie Millark skipped off down the corridor, leaving a very confused Sarah Montague behind.

Looking dumbly down at the booklet in her hand, Sarah struggled to reboot her brain.

_Mackenzie thinks I'm…cool? What a _weird_ day._

Sarah shook her head and continued on her walk, copying Mackenzie's bad example and opening up the _Catalogue _to read as she went_._

It was the item on the third page that caught her attention.

It was a set of jewellery; a necklace, bracelet and pair of earrings.

They were silver and simple but eye-catching. Each with a tear drop shaped stone of bright amber.

Instantly, she could imagine herself wearing them and her mind immediately started plotting how she would get them.

She had no money, so she would have to steal-

_No! We're good now, remember? No stealing or anything._

Nobody would buy it for her and there was no one she would ask for money, it's not like she could pay them back anyway.

Frustrated, she ripped the page out and shoved it into one of her pockets.

She sat down in a corridor on the seventh floor, not wanting to go into the common room just yet.

Her annoyance with herself, her situation and life in general quickly evaporated.

She pulled out the page and stared longingly at the jewellery.

_It's good to have dreams though, isn't it?_

**AN: Happy? Please review :D :D Fav bit? Remember to log in so i can reply if you review ;)**


	9. Chapter 8

**AN: Just a short chapter :P But kinda important :D PLEASE REVIEW**

Sarah sat in her uncomfortable chair in the library on Friday night.

She was straightening up her transfiguration textbook for the fifth time, though it needed no adjusting.

She made sure her parchment was fresh and at a right angle and then she moved her inkwell to a new spot, checking to be certain that there was plenty of ink inside.

All of that was to distract herself from the fact that her study buddy was late.

_What's taking him so long?_

And just as importantly, did she have enough time to stare some more at that catalogue page?

She had hidden it inside her transfiguration book the day before and took it out at every opportunity just to day dream and torture herself with impossibilities.

She really should be concentrating on her work.

This project she was supposed to be doing with David was just one of many the sixth years had been given and Sarah was really starting to feel the strain.

She had never been particularly gifted with magic, she had to try very hard at things that others could to easily.

The stress of being a failure was a heavy weight on her shoulders.

Sighing in frustration, she decided to just start her homework without David.

She felt disappointment lance through her as she realised that he was just like everybody else.

She could trust nobody around here, it was a lesson she must remember.

She cursed under her breath, cracked open the textbook, muttering all the while about useless boys.

"Who're you calling useless?" David said as he plonked down into the seat adjacent from her.

Against her will, relief and happiness soaked into her.

_Maybe David is different?_

"You," she said, "Where have you been? I've been waiting."

It was then that she realised he was only late by five minutes. She was being unreasonable wasn't she?

She eyed him warily as she took in his dishevelled appearance.

His curly hair looked more unruly than usual, his tie seemed looser and his shirt was slightly rumpled.

She hadn't ever seen him look quite so messy.

And look, there was a flushed tint to his cheeks.

She asked him again, already knowing the answer, "Where have you been?"

His cheeks turned redder; "Um…" he mumbled uncomfortably.

She decided to have mercy on him, "It's alright," she muttered, "I understand."

"I got here as soon as I could, I'm sorry I was late. I lost track of the time," he explained earnestly.

_I bet you did…_she thought wryly.

"It's alright, David," she repeated, "You're here now, so we may as well get started."

She shoved the textbook at him with unnecessary force, causing it to slide right off the table and onto his lap.

_Ouch! _

She struggled to keep a straight face as he winced and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment.

"You did that on purpose," he grumbled.

Sarah feigned innocence, "Now why would I do that?"

"I don't know," he grumped, "because you're mean?"

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that," she said primly.

Even though she said it was fine that he had been late, for some reason, it just wasn't.

She wondered then if she was felling possessive of her new friend.

_That must be it_, she was certain.

She decided to push away her strange feelings and focus on the task at hand.

Sarah gestured to David to open up the textbook so they could begin.

He wisely did as she wanted and they got into their work, going over the list from their last lesson and deciding what they were going to write their essays on.

After half an hour of steady writing, Sarah put down her quill and leaned back into her chair.

She watched as David flicked through her textbook and then she was struck by sudden panic.

_My picture is in there!_

Heart hammering a shuddery beat, she tried futilely to come up with a casual way to grab her book and extract the paper without the boy noticing.

_This is not going to work…_

Sarah reached over and snapped the book closed, causing David to glance up at her bemusedly.

"Yes?" he asked with a small smile.

"We should take a break," she suggested, slowly dragging the heavy book closer to herself.

He shrugged, "Alright."

_Yes!_

"But only if you're going to explain why you were so upset in the corridor the other day."

_No!_

She shook her head, desperately refusing.

"Well then," he said, grabbing hold of the textbook, "Back to work it is."

She pulled on the book as well, unwilling to surrender it.

He raised a questioning eyebrow.

Sarah sighed loudly, "Fine."

David let go of the book, just as she had hoped he would.

She scooted it closer to her and tried to find the words to explain.

She couldn't, so she just went with, "I was tired, okay?"

_That's not necessarily a lie, is it? I _was_ tired._

David rolled his eyes and pinned her with a look that screamed the fact he didn't believe her.

Getting increasingly annoyed now, she glared at him, "Just let it go, Davey."

"No," he said stubbornly.

She focussed on the book sitting in front of her in order to try and calm down.

Without warning, the very object she had been staring at was whipped away.

She jumped a bit and jerked her head up, finding that David was holding her book.

"Give it back," she growled in a low voice.

He examined her curiously, "No, I'm fighting for my safety here; I don't want you to hit me again with it."

"I wouldn't," she said even as she lunged at him.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed, stretching away from her and tilting back on his chair.

He held his prize up in the air with one hand and when she lunged again, he strained backwards and toppled over, dropping the book.

She was up and out of her seat in the next moment and was, only for a second, torn between making sure her friend was alright and making sure he didn't find that page from the catalogue.

"Davey! Are you okay?"

He was sprawled on the floor and was grimacing in pain.

She struggled to help him, using all her strength to pull him up.

Unfortunately, because she was using both her hands to support him, she couldn't reach for the book that now had the picture sticking prominently out of it.

David however, noticed it and extended his arm to grab it.

"Did I ruin your book?" he asked worriedly, "Hang on…what's this?"

Her body couldn't decide if it wanted to flush with embarrassment or go cold with fear.

The fear won out and turned her skin pale.

"It's nothing," she tried to say as he righted the overturned chair with his spare hand.

She all but tossed him into it then as she hurried in her attempt to take the paper from him.

He battered away her hands and continued to stare and the picture of the jewellery set she wanted so badly.

"Sarah," he said quietly, "What's this about?"

She couldn't look at him and so busied herself by backing away her other belongings.

"Sarah."

Shame made her feel as if she were sinking.

"Sarah," he was growing more insistent.

"It's nothing," she stated gently.

"Is it something you're going to buy?" he questioned, "Cause if it is, there's nothing wrong with it, so don't be embarrassed."

_I _can't_ buy it,_ she thought despairingly,

"Why not?" he enquired.

She frowned, why did she have to keep saying her thoughts aloud?

"Sarah?" he prompted.

She glared at him then, frustrated, "I can't buy it because I have no money, I can't get money because I don't have a job and my family hate me so it's not like I can ask _them_ for anything."

Exhaling angrily, "It's just a silly, stupid dream and you've ruined it. Why do you always have to know everything? Why do you care?"

It was a question she often asked him but this time, she didn't want to hear the answer.

"Just leave me alone, David."

She snatched up the textbook, shoved it into her bag and stomped off, now uncaring of the fact that he still had the page.

* * *

Her anger had worn out an hour later, leaving her feeling wretched as she moped around the fourth floor corridor.

_Why couldn't I have kept my mouth shut? Why did I have to yell at him? Why did I even leave that stupid picture in my book?_

Her whole body seemed like it was filled with lead.

_I've lost my only friend for sure now, how could I have been so stupid?_

She dragged her feet, adjusting her bag on her shoulder as she passed a statue.

_This just proves how awful I am, doesn't it? I'm not good at school work or magic and I'm rubbish at keeping friends._

That turned her thoughts to all of the homework she had to do.

She was never going to get it all done.

As pathetic as she thought it was, Sarah felt tears well up.

Abruptly, two people sauntered around the corner.

_I guess this day couldn't this day get any worse…_she thought darkly as she realised who they were.

Melinda and Olivia's eyes lit up with they saw her, but not in a way that Sarah was happy about.

She ducked her head, blinked away her tears and tried to build some mental walls.

"Well, hello there, Sarah," drawled Melinda.

"Say," began Olivia, "how are you handling the work load this year, Sarah?"

Her heart clenched and she cleared her throat, "Fine, how about you two?"

They smirked and Sarah's only solace was in the fact that they could never tell when she was telling a lie.

"Oh, you know," said Melinda dismissively, "It's all very easy. We're having no problems, right, Ollie?"

Sarah felt hopelessness threaten to crush her for a moment before she remembered.

"Are those fourth year Ravenclaws still doing your work for you?" Sarah interrupted before Olivia could comment.

They pursed their lips and she knew she had them.

"Well," said Olivia, flipping her pale blonde hair over her shoulder, "At least _we_ can get people to do our work for us."

Obviously not wanting to risk another remark from Sarah, they swept past.

"Have fun failing!" they called back.

Legs buckling, Sarah sunk to the floor.

_They're right; I'm a failure, a _complete_ failure._

The tears she had been fighting overwhelmed her then and streaked down her face from her brown eyes.

She bit back a sob curled into herself, drawing her legs up and wrapping her arms around them.

Caught up in her pain, Sarah missed the sound of approaching footsteps.

**AN: I love getting reviews, but i feel bad for those lovely guests that review because i can't reply to them! Please log in to review so i can tell you how much i appreciate hearing what you think :D**


	10. Chapter 9

**AN: So yes, this is the same chapter that was posted on Saturday but i needed to tell you that this fic is going on hiatus for a while because im going to be very busy soon and also, i've lost most of my enthusiasm for the story :( So nothings changed in the chapter, so you don't need to read it again, i just thought this was a better way to tell you than posting an AN with no chapter :P**

"Um…hello?" a voice questioned hesitantly.

Sarah's head snapped up and swivelled to the sound.

A first year girl was standing several steps away; she had medium length golden brown hair and warm but wary brown eyes.

"Are you alright?" the girl asked.

_Don't cry anymore, don't cry!_

Sarah took in a steadying breath and attempted to wipe away the tears from her face.

"Y-yes," she stuttered, "I-I'm fine."

The new arrival then surprised Sarah by bluntly disagreeing with her.

"No, you're not," the younger girl said firmly.

"Who _are_ you?" Sarah asked, slightly in awe of this tiny student.

"Carman Emmerich," declared the girl, advancing and then plonking herself down next to Sarah.

Those startlingly intense brown eyes then focused on her, "Do you need to talk about it, Sarah?"

Her own brown eyes widening, Sarah asked, "How do you know my name?"

"Magic," the girl replied, rolling her eyes, "No, actually, I was there when James asked you who you were the other day."

Sarah almost wanted to smile at the way Carmen said 'James', as it sounded like she had really wanted to say 'that irritating git.'

"You don't like James?" asked Sarah, wanting to keep the conversation away from herself for a while.

Carman raised her eyes to the ceiling as she hummed in thought.

After a moment, she simply said, "No."

"Really?" Sarah questioned, "But he seems so sweet."

The younger girl snorted derisively, "Oh, he can be when he wants to be but mostly he's just the most annoying, cheerful, smiley and _ridiculous_ person in the world."

Sarah smirked, "Oh, really?" she dragged out the word.

Carmen's eyebrows cranked down as she frowned and pointed a finger at her, "No."

Trying to go for a look of innocence, Sarah asked sweetly, "What do you mean 'no'?"

"I know what you're thinking," warned the girl, "And it's wrong, I do _not_ fancy James."

"Alright," shrugged Sarah, "If you say so…"

"I _do_ say so," confirmed Carmen, crossing her arms angrily.

"Now," she said, turning her head to see Sarah, "Why were you so upset?"

Shame tickled at the edges of her mind, but she didn't want to remember what she had stupidly done.

"Why do you want to know?" she answered with a question of her own.

"Because I'm curious and I don't like to see people crying…they look stupid," responded Carmen.

Sarah laughed and then revelled in the warm spreading within her.

_This girl is refreshing, I like her._

"Well," started Sarah, "If you must know…I guess it was just a build-up of a few things."

"Like?" pressed Carmen.

Sarah pulled a face, "I don't want to say it all out loud… it'll sound stupid."

The young Gryffindor rolled her eyes again, bumping her shoulder against the other girl, "That's the point, _genius_."

"Oh," laughed Sarah, a tad awkwardly.

"Well?" Carmen prompted.

"I guess…" Sarah began, then she sighed and continued, "I guess a small part of it would be the work load this year."

"What about it?"

"Um…well, I suppose this is the first year that I've actually…been doing the work myself."

"What? How'd you manage that?"

"I'm not going to tell you! I don't want to give you any ideas about slacking off…anyway, then there's my old…friends, Melinda and Olivia, they hate me now-"

"Why?"

"Well…actually I can't be sure if they ever actually _didn't_ hate me…if that makes sense. Anyway, I just saw them and they were rubbing it in my face that I'm a failure."

"Do they do what you used to do? Get away without doing the work?"

"Well…yeah."

"Then obviously they're the failures. You can't be called a failure if you _tried_ at something."

"Um…"

"Shut up, I'm trying to give you a pep talk here. What I'm saying _is_, that since your putting in the effort now and doing the work, you'll know what you're doing in the future and _they_ won't be able to do anything for themselves, so who's the real failure?"

Sarah opened her mouth to reply but was cut off.

"Rhetorical question, Sarah, I don't really want you to answer or else you'll make me lose my groove here. "

Ignoring the now blushing girl, Carmen continued, "So basically, when you're sitting on your throne on top of the mountain of awesomeness that you built, you can stare down at them and laugh, because they will be the ones diving for any crumbs you drop. So, what else has contributed to your upset?"

For a moment, all Sarah could do was blink.

"Um…"

Carmen, who had stared at the seascape painting across the corridor for the last part of her speech, turned her attention back to Sarah.

"I was stupid!" Sarah burst out, unable to stop herself, "And I may have lost my only friend because of it!"

"How were you stupid?" questioned Carmen.

"I…well, it's a bit of a long story really," Sarah exhaled.

Upon seeing the young girl's expectant expression, she continued, "You see, my family doesn't like me very much and when other kids got allowances and nice things from their families…I got nothing, so I, uh, stole stuff…"

Sarah's last two words were mumbled, causing Carmen to ask, "I'm sorry, what was that?"

Sighing heavily, Sarah reluctantly clarified, "I stole stuff, money and jewellery mostly. I…wasn't a very good person; I would lie and manipulate to get what I wanted."

"So…what's your point?" asked Carmen, startling Sarah with her nonchalance, "What does this have to do with your lost friend?"

"What?" Sarah was disbelieving, "I just told you I used to steal and lie all the time, don't you care about that?"

Carmen rubbed her eyes, a little frustrated, "_Used_ to steal and lie, _used to. Obviously_ you don't do that anymore, so why does it matter? You said you weren't a good person before, so _obviously_ you must now be one, right?"

"Well," hesitated Sarah, "I'm _trying_ to be good."

"Good," Carmen nodded.

"But I'm failing," Sarah said under her breath.

"What did I say about you and failing, Sarah?" demanded the young Gryffindor, "You're _not_ a failure."

"But I am for sure this time!" protested Sarah, "Because you see, I've stopped stealing and I've got absolutely no money at all…and then I found this stunning jewellery set in a catalogue and I want it so desperately but I can't have it, can I? So I started carrying the picture of it around, as day dream of sorts, and then my…friend Davey found the picture and I yelled at him."

Carmen frowned, still trying to process the flood of information, "You yelled at him? Why?"

"Because," Sarah struggled, "Because I was embarrassed I guess. I don't want him to know that my family hates me and that I can't afford anything. I mean…he's pretty smart and I've accidently blabbed a bit so…he probably already knows everything anyway. Why did I have to be so stupid? Rhetorical question, Carmen, I don't want to know your answer. Now Davey probably hates me because I'm an idiot and he's probably realised he's too good to be my friend."

"You really are an idiot, Sarah," Carmen said sagely.

"Wait, what?" Sarah turned to stare at the young girl.

Carmen nodded, "You're an idiot because you're not seeing the obvious solution here."

"And that is…?"

Eyebrows rising, Carmen responded, stressing her words, "_Go and apologise."_

"Oh Merlin!" exclaimed Sarah, "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Idiot, remember?" Carmen reminded her, rolling her eyes again.

Sarah mimicked the girl, rolling her eyes as well, "Thanks."

"You're welcome. Now, are you all better now?" the girl asked as she pushed herself to her feet and offered her hand to Sarah.

"Well, you've definitely given me something to think about," she answered when standing.

"Good," stated Carmen, "Now, I'm going. I hope to see you around, Sarah, and do tell me how it goes with your friend."

Sarah watched as her odd little house-mate walked confidently down the corridor.

* * *

After spending the whole night and morning trying to come up with the perfect apology and failing completely, Sarah decided to just wing it.

She waited in the common room for him to come down; she endured a lot of curious glances but remained steady in her purpose.

_I'll apologise, but if he doesn't want to be friends anymore, I'll accept that because I was lucky to have him as my friend for the time that I did_.

She shifted from foot to foot, wrung her hands and grew more anxious by the minute.

_Why is he taking so long?_

She knew he hadn't already left; she had been waiting there since the early hours of the morning, not wanting to risk missing him.

Suddenly Teddy stumbled down the staircase of the boy's dormitory, dragging an unwilling Toby Isaacs with him.

"Why do you always do this to me?" complained Toby, "And why can I never find my shoe?"

Teddy looked as if he were about to make a retort to his friend, but then he spotted Sarah standing awkwardly to the side.

He immediately let go of Toby and straightened up, nudging the other boy so he would do the same.

"Hi, Sarah," Teddy greeted with a little wave, "What're you doing?"

_Trying not to blush…_

"Oh, um…" she winced, "I need to talk to Davey-uh, David about something."

Teddy shrugged, either not noticing or pretending not to notice her verbal fumbling, "He'll be down in a minute I think."

"So," he then drawled, folding his arms across his chest and giving the impression that he had all day, "What do you want with my buddy Dave?"

Her eyes widened and, for the life of her, she could not think of an intelligent response.

The blue haired boy laughed, "Merlin, you should see your face, Sarah, it's priceless!"

Gathering her composure, Sarah replied, "I thought you were supposed to be a _nice_ guy, Teddy Lupin."

"Where'd you get a weird idea like that?" questioned Toby, choking on his giggles.

Teddy glared at his friend and elbowed him.

"And _I _thought you were my friend," he admonished the boy.

David arrived as Toby's expression became sheepish.

"What's going on here?" he asked curiously.

"Well," declared Teddy, "We were just asking Sarah here, what her intentions towards you are."

"Teddy!" she squeaked in an outraged protest, fighting a blush.

"Really?" enquired David, raising an eyebrow at Sarah, "And just what _are_ you intentions, Miss Montague?"

Shifting uncomfortably and flickering uneasy glances at Teddy and Toby, who were watching her and David with great interest, Sarah pointedly cleared her throat.

Getting her hint, Teddy and Toby grumbled and shuffled out of the common room, all the while sending hopeful and curious looks back at her.

When they were gone, Sarah turned to face the remaining boy.

"I need to apologise to you, David," she said with surprising calmness.

"To me?" he questioned, eyebrows climbing higher.

"Yes," she said, reinforcing her statement by nodding.

"Why?" David frowned.

"Because of last night of course," Sarah explained, "I was utterly horrible to you and I overacted and I…I just feel so _terrible_ about it all…could you possibly forgive an awful person like me?"

He sighed and gave her a small smile, "Sarah, you're an idiot."

She crossed her arms and grumped, "If people keep saying that, I'm going to get a complex or something."

He rolled his eyes and then wrapped her up in a hug.

"I forgive you, but I want you to know that you're not an awful person and that I understand that you've been under a lot of stress lately. You can talk to me, you know."

"I know," she mumbled into his arm, annoyance draining out of her body and causing her arms to fall to her sides.

"Alright," said David, "Enough of this mushy stuff, let's go get breakfast!"

"You're _such_ a bloke!" Sarah exclaimed, shoving him playfully away.

"Well, _yeah_," he grinned, rolling his hazel eyes.

* * *

_Oh, look, there's Carmen!_

Sarah spotted that head of golden brown hair and, to her surprise, her immediate reaction was to go and sit next to the girl.

_Should I? Or shouldn't I?_

She hesitated for a moment, unsure for the first time in a while where to sit, but David soon solved her dilemma.

He gestured for her to follow him as he sat down next to Darren Thewlis who had a few empty seats beside him.

Nervousness tingled along her veins because at the table, across from Darren, was Teddy.

Next to Teddy, of course, was Mackenzie, who had Isabel and Toby on her other side.

It was a very scary idea, being so close to all the 'cool' people of Gryffindor.

It had also been a couple of days since she had actually been to breakfast instead of just going to the kitchens. She had wanted to avoid Cooper and his mates.

Despite her apprehensions, as soon as she was seated, little Carmen moved over to sit on her other side.

"Hello, Sarah," she greeted, "How'd it go? Oh, and do you mind if I sit here?"

She smiled at the younger girl, feeling soothed by the friendly face.

"It's fine," she said, "And it went very well, thanks."

"Is that your friend?" Carmen asked in a voice that was not _quite_ discreet enough in Sarah's opinion.

David's head turned, his eyebrows raised in question.

Beginning to think being pink was going to be a constant state for her, Sarah tried to ignore her awkwardness as she explained.

"Uh…David, this is Carmen Emmerich, I, uh, met her yesterday, she helped me realise that I'm an idiot."

His face was then lit by a broad grin, "Hello, Carmen, it's lovely to meet such a clever person. Actually…I remember you! You helped Teddy that time, with that delivery, didn't you?"

He stuck out his hand and the girl shook it, giving him a small smile and agreeing that it had indeed been her.

"Hey, Carmen!" called a voice from a bit further down the table.

Judging by the face that Carmen then made, Sarah guessed that the voice belonged to James Potter.

The young boy got up from his seat and grinned as he coerced people into moving down so he could sit next to his year mate.

"So," James said, probably as charmingly as he could, "Carmen, ar- Oh! Hello, Sarah!"

His glasses, which had been perched on the top of his messy hair, nearly fell to the floor as he jumped up suddenly.

As he snapped to catch them, Sarah struggled mightily to keep a straight face.

_Oh, wow, he's so cute and squeaky when he's nervous._

Having turned bright red, James then made a hasty escape and returned to where he had been seated before.

Carmen twisted to face Sarah, an expression of bewilderment evident.

"How did you _do_ that?" she breathed, "Do you have some sort of superpower?"

Sarah's brow twitched, "Um, I don't think so."

Curious as to why David was so quiet, Sarah glanced over at him.

_Ah._

He was also red in the face, but he had his hand covering his mouth as he shook with silent laughter.

"Oh, shut up," scolded Sarah, smacking his shoulder, completely unaware of the way Teddy was watching her interestedly from across the table.

It was then that an unfamiliar person approached the table.

_Oh no…_

Sarah watched with increasing dread as a seventh year with a gift box drew nearer to her.

_It might not be for me_,_ it might not be for me,_ she kept up the chant right up until the boy stopped in front of her.

"Sarah Montague?" the dark haired boy asked.

"Yes, that's her," David answered in her place, she had become frozen.

"This is for you," the stranger said, "From your secret admirer."

Tears of sadness and anger pricked at her eyes as the box was held out to her.

All nearby eyes were on her. The pressure was almost overwhelming.

_I guess this is how Mackenzie felt that time…if only Teddy could be a distraction for me now…_

"Are you going to take it?" questioned the seventh year, looking down at her.

Suddenly, her anger flared up and melted away her sadness.

"No," she said decisively, "I'm not, I don't want it."

Even as she became aware that she would look like an utter cow to everyone watching, Sarah found that she didn't care.

She didn't care about what they thought in that moment.

"Now," she said commandingly, "Go back to Cooper, Ryan and Bradley and tell them that I'm not interested."

When the boy just stood there, open mouthed and staring, she made a shooing gesture.

"Run along," she ordered, before turning away and dismissing him from her thoughts.

* * *

Later that day, Sarah and David were finishing up some more work on their Transfiguration projects.

"Sarah?" he asked, causing her to look up from her essay, "Can you explain to me about that secret admirer stuff?

She sighed loudly, "It was just a cruel joke."

"What?" he demanded angrily.

"Do you remember when I told you that Cooper wasn't who I thought he was?" she asked, staring at the table.

When he acknowledged that he did, she continued, "Well, he was only pretending to be my friend and then he and his friends thought it'd be funny to send me that rubbish in the post so I'd think someone fancied me. It wasn't even real jewellery, just charmed to look like it."

"That's awful," he said, disgust on his face.

"That's nothing compared to what I've done before…" she muttered sadly.

David, wanting to lighten the atmosphere, decided to change the subject.

"Well," he announced, pushing the thick textbook way, "That's enough of my brain cells killed for one day."

"You can't have many left now," commented Sarah, grasping onto the change and hiding her grin by grabbing the book and putting it away in her bag.

"Aw, that's not very fair," David said before pretending to concentrate, "I think…I think I've got about…two left? Let me think…I had ten, and then I lost three, so that left me with…two!"

He beamed at her like he had won a prize, "I'm still smart!"

Sarah laughed and shook her head at him, "Keep telling yourself that, Davey."

As they packed away their belongings, she felt a sense of disappointment set in and weigh her down.

_He's going off to be with Hannah now…_

She said a quiet goodbye to David as they parted ways outside of the library.

The rest of her day would be spent catching up on homework, reading and mostly…trying not to think about how lonely she was without David and Carmen around.

* * *

Monday rolled around and Sarah kept herself busy in class by taking careful and detailed notes.

In fact, it was only after her last class of that day that she actually stopped and talked to David.

And it was because he had come chasing after her in the fifth floor corridor.

"Sarah?" he asked, coming to a stop in front on her, "Are you alright? I mean…are _we_ alright?"

Confusion creased her forehead, "What do you mean?"

He rubbed the back of his neck, "Well, I dunno, I guess I got it into my head that you were avoiding me…or something."

The last part was added on so quickly that it made her smile.

"_Now_ who's the idiot?" she asked, rolling her eyes at him.

"Ooh!" he squealed, "I know the answer to this!"

His hand shot up into the air and he bounced up and down like an eager student wanting to be chosen.

She nodded amusedly at him.

He brought his arm down and winked at her, "It's _you_, isn't it?"

"David!" she cried, swinging her bag at him, "Don't be so mean!"

"Ouch! I'm sorry!" he held up his hands in surrender.

She hit him once more for good measure.

"Oi!" he exclaimed.

"You deserved it," she grumbled, "Thinking I was avoiding you and then calling me an idiot, I should hit you again."

David immediately stepped back, "Please don't!"

She shouldered her back again to show he was safe.

"So," he said, "You _weren't_ avoiding me then?"

"No, don't be silly, I've just had a lot of work to do."

Never would she admit to feeling flattered that he had noticed her absence and been concerned.

Someone approaching from behind David caught her eye. The person looked familiar but it wasn't until he was a meagre two metres away that she put a name to the face.

_Oh, that's Andy Duroan, the boy with the rivalry with Cooper._

Feeling uncomfortable all of a sudden, Sarah shrunk back closer to the wall.

Despite her moving away, the older Gryffindor _still_ managed to bump into her and send her and her belongings crashing to the floor.

"Ouch!" she landed hard on her butt.

"Hey!" David called angrily at other boy.

But it was too late; Andy Duroan had already disappeared around the corner.

David knelt down beside her, "Are you okay?"

"My butt hurts," she complained.

He laughed, swept all her possessions into a pile and then shoved them all back in her bag.

As he stood and helped her up, he commented, "All better, like it never happened."

Sarah pouted and rubbed her backside, "Not really."

It was then that Carmen made a sudden appearance, nearly crashing into Sarah as she sped around the corner.

"Whoa! Watch it!" Sarah yelped, clutching onto both Carmen and David to remain steady.

"Sorry!" Carmen said quickly, looking a tad frazzled.

"What's the matter?" Sarah asked her.

Carmen glanced back over her shoulder anxiously as she answered, "It's James, he's-oh!"

Eyes widening, Carmen turned to focus on the girl she nearly knocked over.

"Sarah!" she exclaimed, "You have to help me, I just can't deal with James right now, he's been following me everywhere!"

"What?" questioned Sarah, "Do you want me to use my, what did you call it? Superpower?"

"That'd be great!" enthused Carmen, "Just keep him distracted while I get away, he's not far behind me!"

With that, the younger girl dashed off along the corridor.

A mere minute later, James Potter came bounding around the corner.

He faltered when he saw Sarah and David.

"Um," he said, turning pink, "Hello."

She couldn't help but grin at him, "Hello, James."

He blinked and then spoke in a strangled voice, "H-have you seen Carmen?"

His voice grew so high pitched towards the end of his question that Sarah almost couldn't understand what he said.

Sarah looked over at David, who was trying valiantly to keep composed.

"No, we haven't," he said, his tone one of supressed amusement.

"James," addressed Sarah, noticing something different about the boy, "Where are your glasses?"

His hands clapped to his untidy head of hair as his eyes grew wide.

"Oh no!" he cried, "I must've lost them!"

He clenched his eyes shut then, clearly trying to think of where they could possibly be.

"I don't know where they are," he then moaned despairingly.

"Why don't we help you find them?" David suggested.

"Great idea," complimented Sarah as she placed a hand on James' shoulder and steered him back the way he came.

"Carmen owes us big time for this," David muttered to Sarah as they started what would become a two hour search for a pair of glasses that were in fact, in the boy's pocket.

**AN:Interesting fact for those of you who read ****_Going Unnoticed_****, Carmen was first introduced in chapter 8 of that story i think, which is the same chapter David was first in. She was the one that gave the rose to Mackenzie for Teddy.**

**This chapter had a bit of everyone, didn't it? ;) Please, sign in and review and let me know what you think about the characters and the story so far ;) **

**Also, if guilt tripping works on you...i'll just say that my last two chapters only got 1 review each. :'(**


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